THURSDAY, SEpTEMBER 9, 2021 INFRASTRUCTURE

 Infrastructure part II

 

Let’s do two things today - public infrastructure and a parallel body infrastructure.

 

Water, sewage, disposal.

 

I live in an area of rapid population growth.  Within ten miles of my apartment, there are millions (probably BILLIONS) of dollars being spent on new buildings, new hospitals, new schools, road construction, and much more.

 

Near me is an area that recently was approved for development.  There is a sign for a property improvement company that is starting to clear the land.  But before the first bulldozer drove onto the land, a lot of planning was done.  The land was owned by somebody (I think it was grazing property as I’ve seen cows there).  

 

Some developers decided that that land would be ideal for houses.  

 

But houses need water, sewers, streets, schools (which already exist - but the influx of a thousand new residents with their children may cause overcrowding at the existing schools), phone service, internet, television, grocery stores, churches, banks, retail and more.  

 

Picture a rural setting in Oklahoma.  On April 22, 1889, thousands gathered at a starting point to grab free land.  Those were the boomers.  (There were also “Sooners”, who had snuck in prior to the official time to claim land).  

 

The people rushed onto lands to claim a spot.  But those spots were just land.  People had to build houses, establish farms and ranches.  They may have needed to dig wells.  They put outhouses on their property.  

 

Eventually, there were towns, - people needed to buy lumber, windows, and other building supplies.  They needed food products.  Most raised chickens and had gardens but needed salt, sugar, clothes (or fabric), and other supplies.  

 

Towns needed water, sewers, and other services.

 

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Likewise, these new properties need water, sewers, and other infrastructure.  

 

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Let’s go in a parallel direction.  Humans need bodies that have a human infrastructure- stomachs, lungs, heart, digestive systems, and more.  

 

Are we taking care of our own infrastructure - that is our bodies?  Are we working on taking care of our bodies like cities and builders take care of new developments?  

 

On a religious note, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Do we smoke, consume excessive alcohol, fatty foods?  Do we brush our teeth, get eye exams, physical exams, and take care of our infrastructure?  

 

Are our bodies like houses in slum areas?  Are there Broken windows, plumbing problems, needing paint, and tender loving care (TLC)? 

 

Do we take care of ourselves?  

 

Sometimes issues arise with our homes that could have been prevented and sometimes there are issues beyond us (hail storms, tornadoes).  

 

Like houses, roads, water, sewers - community infrastructure items, our bodies also have infrastructure issues.  

 

Love wins- but we need to take care of ourselves as an act of love!!  

(Still working without i,o, and p)

Karen) 

Infrastructure

 Infrastructure 

the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

"the social and economic infrastructure of a country"

Recently congress passed a major bipartisan infrastructure appropriations bill.

While I don’t know what is in the Bill, I want to comment on the concept.

First -today -roads and transportation

In 1956 the Federal-aid transportation act was passed.  Called the Eisenhower Interstate highway system, it had been discussed for years after cars became a common mode of transportation.

As highways were developed many cities wanted the roads to connect towns and cities- more traffic, more retail sales, more hotels/motels/, more restaurants.  So when going from point A to B places close to the roads wanted traffic through their towns to increase.  But consumers generally wanted to get from A to B the fastest way!  

Eventually, the highways were built so that if you had an unlimited gas supply, and didn’t need food or sleep you could travel from coast to coast without leaving the road.  

(Aside - my neighbor, Don, and I used our Tonka trucks and graders and built cloverleaf interchanges in the soft dirt at the end of our driveway!  (I should have been a civil engineer!!) 

The roads would link cities but wouldn’t go “into” cities for commerce. 

Now in 2021, interstate highways are a norm for travel.  Going to my class reunion last weekend I generally avoid the interstate highways going to the event but used them almost exclusively to get home.  

On the first of the trip, I wanted to see and visit specific things like the state high points for Arkansas and Illinois, and the inclined cable elevator in Dubuque.  

Growing up in Iowa there was some discussion that the interstate highways were chewing up some great farmland.  Coming back I was on four-lane, controlled access, divided highways most of the way.  

But, the original highways have gotten older.  The old joke about the two seasons in the Midwest are the winter season and the road construction season.  (Doing road construction in winter can be hard!). In Texas and southern states that don’t get snow, construction goes year around.  My only delays on my trip back were construction zones - most notably through Fort Worth and Waco Texas.  

Keeping the roads open and repaired can be a challenge.  If a 50 mile stretch of road could be closed for a month, it would get finished but if you need to keep a lane open while repairing the road will lengthen the process.  

What should the roads of the year 2060 be like?  Should they be ready with hyper-computing and autonomous vehicles?  (I think so).

Or will we no longer need roads because we will have mini-flying cars? 

This leads to planning.  What might the travel of the year 2060 be like?  Planning for the traffic of 2021 may not solve traffic of 2040 or 2060.  

And lightly / what about electrical and telephone poles and transmission lines? What about water and the internet?  Some of our water systems need major work. Can you imagine the cost to redo the water and sewer for New York City? 

Who should own and maintain infrastructure?  Should there be toll roads?  How about high speed trains like Japan, China, and Europe? 

Ocean travel gets cars from other parts of the world and gas and oil to our shores.  

Infrastructure 

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021 - TRAVEL

 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021 - TRAVEL

(OKAY, PERSONAL PRIVILEGE) 

Six days, 2690 miles, parts of eight states. Two events, one major reunion.

(Next week, I‘m going to look at infrastructure, and this will lead to that discussion)

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Travel.

Sometimes when I think of travel,  I think of the changes in travel.  For example, when I lived in Connecticut,  I lived on Hartford Turnpike.  My assumption is that at one point in time there was an Indian trail there.  When white settlers arrived they made a road from New Haven to Hartford using the trail that was already there.  Horses and people could use the trail.  When wagons and carriages wanted to make that trip, an entrepreneur made the trail wider by cutting logs and making the road a real road (a turn-pike).  A few blocks from our house there was an old house that somebody described as the “toll house” (not from the cookies of that name), where a person would pay a toll to take that road. Eventually, wood bits were laid down, then gravel, then paving, and a “real” road.  

George Washington was a surveyor and surveyed roads in the colonies. As America expanded to the west, roads were laid out.  By the time the midwestern and plain states were settled, roads were generally in a grid  - one mile between roads horizontally, and one mile vertically.  But, not every road could be laid out that way - with hills, mountains, rivers, and streams - that limited how and where roads could go.  

Rivers were problems - in the early days' ferries took people and wagons across the water.  Eventually, engineers built bridges (and tunnels, and other roads) that made transportation easier.  

So, to my trip last weekend.  There were roads that followed early.  The road to Mount Magazine (so I guess) followed some early trails - with switchbacks, curves.  There were very few bridges on that road as bridges cost more to build.  I parked fairly close (about ¾ of a mile and hiked to the highpoint of Arkansas.  

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa,  drive by my old house and my grandparent’s old house - and along my old paper route.  (many of the houses were new when  I delivered the newspaper and now are 55 to 60 years old). It seemed run down and not as I remembered it. 

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In Dubuque, Iowa, another form of transportation was used - an inclined elevator (cable car/ski lift/funicular).  Started at the top and went to the bottom and then back to the top. (see picture) 

Then I found the high point of  Illinois. I've been to four high points - Connecticut, Rhode Island, Iowa, and South Dakota (and now Arkansas and Illinois). (Rhode Island and Iowa are not really very significant!!)

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On to the reunion. 

I taught at this school for two years - my first two years after college.   I Was the high school math teacher and assistant basketball coach and head baseball coach.  The previous math teacher had the same assignments, so a little chutzpah (gutsy) on my art!!!  There were several baseball players there, including our ace pitcher.  I was worried that some people might avoid me - the transgender woman - and some did. But,  generally, all were cordial and friendly!!!   We (for the most part) have had operations, heartaches, and the things that happen to people over 50 years!!!  We dId converse and got along well.  (I even bought a few beers) 

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There is an expression - “You can’t go home again”.  Things have changed.  IT wasn’t like it was 50 years ago, and also very different than 50 years ago - all of us were!!. 

Memories can be arbitrary - we remember some things very accurately, and other things not at all.  

The most important thought to me was to be positive!!!  God is good, Love WINS!!!

KAREN

SUNDAY FUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

 SUNDAY FUNDAY 

September 5th, 2021

September started very hot in Texas.  But, I am on the road where I am wearing jeans and a sweatshirt!!!

This will be shorter than normal.  Too many miles, too much going on, too little time to research things like National Days, Today in History, Top songs of this date over the years.  

I did find some brain teasers.  Maybe my writing will be better with a refurbished computer - where the I, O, and P keys work!!!  And, interesting enough, my I, O, and P are working about 40% of the time!!!

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BRAIN TEASERS!!!!  Answers at bottom

1. The mayor of Springfield has a brother Nathan.  But, Nathan says he doesn’t have a brother.  How can that be?

2. A man was buying cars for $30,000 from the manufacturer and was selling them for $20,000.  Eventually, he became a millionaire.  How could that be?

3. A man shaves between 3 and 10 times a day, and yet has a full beard.  How can that be?

4. Two men crossed a river in a red kayak that can only hold one person.  How could that happen? 

5. The 22nd and the 24th president had the same parents but they aren’t brothers.  How can this be?

6. Two fathers and two sons were walking down the street and they found three twenty-dollar bills on the sidewalk and each man walked away with a twenty-dollar bill. 

*****

 Am on my trip to Wisconsin.  

Day 1:  A long day.  Highlight - climbing/hiking Mount Magazine - the highest point on Arkansas.  Beautiful scenery. Curvy roads!!!  Stayed in Bentonville AR - home of Walmart!!!

Day 2: Drive across Missouri and Iowa.  Lake of the Ozarks, Mexico MO, Hannibal, near Keokuk Iowa (where I taught from 1973 to 1978), Cedar Rapids Iowa (my birthplace). Stayed in Dubuque Iowa.

Day 3: Rode the Dubuque 4th Street Elevator (Funicular) an old cable car up a bluff.  To Charles Mount in Scales Mound Illinois - the highest point in Illinois!!  And, awesome scenery of Southwest Wisconsin.

Day 4:: (;m writing before the activities of the day), Coffee with old friends in Patch Grove, 50th reunion of the class of 1971 (I was their teacher - only about 6 years older than they were!!)

Day 5:  Driving to Blackwell Okla (10+ hours)

Day 6 (Labor Day) - back to Georgetown Texas!!!

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Comments:  I have become a recluse in my apartment in Georgetown.  I have friends there, but who are my dear friends.  So, I am on a trip to explore myself, and my history.  

As I am writing this before the events, I am not sure how things will work out.

Cedar Rapids.  My birthplace and home for the first 25 years.  My sister wanted pictures.  Our old church was damaged in a major flood and had been torn down, my grandparent’s house looked lousy, our old house looked okay, but so many trees and shrubs were gone.  Cedar Rapids had changed.  “You can’t go home again” seems to be true!!!

Managing expectations can be a challenge.  Managing expectations as a 74-year-old transgender woman can put shock and fear in my brain.  I have tried not to offend, to be me.  I get called “SIR” frequently - even with women’s clothes, and mannerisms.  I sometimes feel like the old story of a man without a country.  I can feel lonely on the road.    I have listened to audiobooks (currently one I have never read before - The Da Vinci Code.  Written in 2003, it was a bestseller.  I avoided it because it might offend my Catholic/Christian faith. But, in recent years, I have found faith to be even stronger with challenges.   I have found an InfInite - all-powerful God, who is so far beyond my expectations and my limited belief.  And, I know reconciliation and unconditional love will always win!!!

In the Judeo/Christian tradition, “He spoke and the world came to be”.  Now, I too can say “Let there be light” - and there is light - but I am pushing the switch button to the on position!!!   God’s ways are not my ways - and really don’t have a clue in most cases.  In terms of novels, I think “The Shack” might fit my beliefs more than “The Da Vinci Code”.   I am finite, and God is infinite!!!

 

Answers:

1. The Mayor is a woman

2. He started out as a billionaire!!

3. He was a barber

4. One man was on one side and the other was on the other side

5. Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th resident

6. Grandpa, Dad, and son

So, onward to September!!! Blessings!!! 

LOVE WINS

Karen

Saturday Story - September 4, 2021

 Saturday Story - September 4, 2021

Snow White and the seven dwarfs reversed

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Grumpy Dwarf was not liked by his brothers.  He was always complaining - but that was natural, he was just “grumpy” 

Finally, the seven dwarfs had a family meeting.  There was Doc, Hay, Sleepy, Bashful, Dopey, and Sneezy.  And, by a vote of 7 to zero, they kicked Grumpy out of their house.  He even voted him out.  He had enough of them!!!

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Grumpy was an accomplished miner and woodsman and was handy with tools and household chores.  He had never been out of the woods, but found a trail and just kept walking.  He ate berries, and found a field of corn and ate a few ears, and fell asleep next to a barn. 

Waking up, he was surrounded by seven lovely ladies.  

The first lady seemed to be the head of the group. 

“Hi”, she said. “We’ve been praying for someone like you!!!”  The other ladies nodded and smiled at Grumpy. 

She added “Could you stay and work for us?  We would pay you, feed you, and give you a place to stay.  We would really like it if you would be our handyman!!!” 

Grace, Sunny, Lily, Gladys, Mercy, Rose, and Joy looked at Grumpy so expectantly. 

He was so hungry, that it sounded like a fair offer!!!.

The ladies brought him into their house.  And, they set off to fix him a meal.  

His clothes were dirty and ragged.  Gladys brought a measuring tape and soon had his size.  Mercy ran a hot bath for him.  Meanwhile, Gladys, Grace, and Sunny were cutting and sewing clothes for him. They left the clothes outside the bathroom door.  The clothes were in shades of pink, and pastels.  

Grace (who seemed to be in charge), greeted Grumpy as he came out of the bathroom.  She swooned over him.  “You look so lovely” and the other girls agreed!!! 

Grace asked, “What's your name?” 

Grumpy answered “Grumpy”.  The ladies drew back.  That wasn’t a good name for them.  The ladies huddled together and they all talked excitedly about names.  

A few minutes later, they had decided.  

Grace said “Your name will be Handsome, but we will call you ‘Han’!!!  The girls twittered excitedly.  

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From that day on, Han was the helper around the place.  He had eaten some of the corn before he arrived and it was ready to be picked.  The girls brought out about twenty big baskets and soon Han had them full.    

“Ooh” exclaimed Grace!!  We can sell the corn in town and buy a cow,” 

The ladies did have a horse and a broken-down wagon.  So, Han went to work fixing up the wagon and caring for the horse.  The horse needed new horseshoes.  Han found a large nice tool room.  He had watched his brothers shoe the old nag they used in the mine and so he put new shoes on the horse.  The girls told him that their father had died but had kept the tools in great shape.  

Then he fixed up the wagon.  

Meanwhile, Gladys made many more clothes for Han.  In four days, he had the wagon fixed, and he had a fancy outfit for him to wear into town.  

BUT, Grace (with her sisters), decided that Han (or old Grumpy) needed to look nicer, so Mercy, who seemed to be the beautician, cut his hair and trimmed beard. (He felt like he needed a neat beard.)    

With Grace and Sunny, Han took the wagon with the baskets of corn into town. They did sell out of the corn quickly and at a good price.  Grace had some additional money and they bought two cows.  

Everybody in town smiled and was so nice to the girls and to Han.  (He was more like his brother Bashful on this trip). 

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Grumpy (or Han) really was changing inside as well.  He was always grumpy at home - there wasn’t as much food as he needed and he went to bed hungry, his brothers made him go into the deeper parts of the mine to dig, Being with these ladies changed him.  

He hadn’t learned to read or write, but Sunny (who seemed to be the teacher) gave him a couple of hours of lessons in the evenings.  

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As fall came on, Han with the girls cut firewood for the winter. Sunny seemed to be his main helper as they built stalls for the cows and fixed up the barn.  In late October, all of them (except for Gladys - who seemed to run the household), dug the potatoes, carrots, and beets.  Finished harvesting the corn and made it ready for the winter.  

Sunny helped Han milk the cows and Gladys and Rose processed the milk.  Two cows didn't make a lot of milk, but it was something.  

Han and Sunny had a plan to get more cows - they could cut more wood and sell the excess in town and buy more cows.  They also learned that Lars, a neighbor about ten miles away, had a bull.  Not sure how it was done, Sunny talked Lars into a deal.  The first calf would be for the seven girls, and then the second calf would go to Lars.  This deal would last for the next six years for stud service.  

*****

To be finished next week!!!

YES - I'm still on the road, and my three keys are still sticking!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2021 BLESSED ARE THE MEEK

 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2021 BLESSED ARE THE MEEK

Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

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Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior that has been defined as an amalgam of righteousness, inner humility, and patience.

Meekness is essentially an attitude or quality of heart whereby a person is willing to accept and submit without. resistance to the will and desire of someone else. In the case of Christians, this is God.

What does meek mean? When used in a positive way, meek describes someone who shows patient restraint. When used negatively, it means overly submissive. The positive sense of meek implies that someone is able to remain calm and subdued even when being provoked.

"Meekness" is a humble attitude that expresses itself in the patient endurance of offenses. "Gentleness" is a practical synonym. It implies mercy and self-restraint. Meekness is not weakness. Sometimes we confuse the two. But the difference between a meek person and a weak person is this: a weak person can't do anything. A meek person, on the other hand, can do something but chooses not to.

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So, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Does anyone really want to inherit the earth?  There is pollution, global warming, do you want the earth as an inheritance? 

And, maybe more central - are you meek?  Do you like being meek? 

Meek seems to mean shy, unassuming, being walked over,  or, the last paragraph above - “Gentleness”.  There are times when I could trample somebody and choose not to do so. Is that being meek or gentle?  

I like the concept of ‘gentleness’.  

Proverbs 15:1 -- “A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”

Proverbs 21:23 Watch your words and hold your tongue; you'll save yourself a lot of grief.

So, it might be better to be meek (or gentle) and be a good person 

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen

THURSDAY, SETEMBER 2, 2021

 Thursday, September 2nd!!

Inertia.  

An object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its velocity: whether in motion or motionless. Newtons laws of motion.

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Newton says “Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes”

I’m finding inertia in my life.  I’ve settled back into predictable actions.  

My activity calendar was just liquid cement not so long ago but has hardened into stone.

Monday and Tuesday nights are now symphony rehearsal nights.  I don’t get to the Georgetown Recreation Center on those nights.  

Tuesday has granny basketball practice 

Thursday has my bridge club.

Wednesday night and Saturday mornings are Bible Study groups.  Sunday is Church.  

But, unfortunately, I’m finding another inertia starting to take over - my rocking, rotating, recliner.  

I sit in this particular chair way too many hours a day.  

Went I wake up, boom, I sit in my chair.  I check my Mail, play five games, surf the web, and, boom, it’s 10:00 and I haven’t done anything!!  Some days I don’t even fix breakfast (other than making coffee).  I write my blogs from this chair, even more so because my better computer got shipped back for repairs, and on my old computer the I, O, and P keys work about 5% of the time. 

For someone who loves to write, I write a sentence then I take five minutes (or longer) finding an O and copying it appropriately.  And, sometimes that I, O, or P needs to be capitalized.  Sometimes the automatic spell checker makes a good suggestion and most of the time it doesn’t!!  Picture writing the word “point”.  I’d type it - and sometimes (rarely) I might get one of the letters to work.  Then find a “p” copy it and paste it, then the same for the O and the I.  

I was a great touch typist.  In college, I typed papers for other students.  These were the days before personal computers-AND- It was a manual typewriter!  No spell checking and any mistakes required using “whiteout”, painting out the mistakes, then typing the correct letters.  Being an accurate typist was definitely an asset.  I made a little spending money typing at 25 cents a page!! 

Of course, Word Processing changed that.  But to write two pages for a blog without those three letters is aggravating!!  

So picture me this morning on my phone - using one finger to type this blogpost!!  (And sitting in my recliner- inertia!!)

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Partially related.  Last week I took one of my shut-in friends to get a new TV.  She offered me the old one.  And I took it!! (Oh woe is me)!!  I can imagine sitting in my recliner for hours mesmerized by the images on a little screen!  Now that would be inertia raised to the second (or third or tenth), power!!  

I still have her old TV (which she insists is great), and my brain says “I could watch football again”.  And I hear the control part of my brain screaming “NO NO NO”.  

My parents lived into their upper 90s.  My mother died at 98 and my father at 97.  I remember visiting them in their assisted living apartment - with their television going full blast (yes, they had hearing problems ).  My mother knew the TV schedule and what programs she watched.  Dad would have baseball games to watch.  

My brain still says NO.  No television- or I will be glued to this recliner- get to the rec center - play my tuba - whatever - but (at least for several more years), keep my brain thinking -without the “idiot box” controlling my life!!  

Life is so much more -even for a senior - than to be entertained by an electronic “babysitter”. 

And, I am going to buy tack strips to put on the seat of that recliner!!  

Get up and get moving, Karen!!  

(Love isn’t going to win if a TV is in front of me!!)

And, yes, love does win!

*****

I am on my trip. Tonight if all goes well I’ll be in Dubuque Iowa, and tomorrow I’ll ride the Fenelon Elevator (funicular)- and see some of God's awesome beauty!! 

Karen