This sounds fun & thought provoking! A is for age: 47 B is for beer of choice: something dark - I usually order Sam Adams when out. C is for career you want: I want to become a labor mediator eventually D is for your dog's name? Molly Elizabeth E is for essential item you use everyday: dental floss/toothbrush/contact lens cleaner F is for favorite TV SHOW: Boston Legal G is for favorite game: Mah Jong H is for Home town: Batavia I is for instruments you play: I have fun trying to play the harmonica J is for favorite juice: grapefruit or cranberry K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: DH's ex L is for last place you ate out: A diner somewhere near Binghamton NY in November M is for married: Yes, 10 years in July N is for your full name: Karen O is for overnight hospital stays: 19 & 25 years ago for my childrens' birth P is for people you were with today: Deb & Anita Q is for quote: It's all BS R is for Biggest Regret: staying with my ex for so long; I can't say I regret marrying him because he is my DDs dad. S is for status: employed FT, PT student, wife, mother, homemaker T is for time you woke up today: 6:00 AM U is for underwear you have on now: none V is for vegetable you love: all, except eggplant W is for worst habit: interrupting people X is for x-rays you've had: none Y is for yummy food you ate today: DH's homemade pizza Z is for zodiac sign: Libra

Please don't misunderstand - the farm people valued their animals and cared for them well. On the other hand - the cattle provided milk and meat, and local dogs that got together and travelled in packs, chasing cattle, would be dealt with severely (read, "shot"). They tried to train the dogs to herd cattle - some would go to the pasture at milking time and bring the cows to the barn for milking. It could well have been that the Grandfather felt a deep sense of love for the young lads. I thought that the Grandfather's act was a bit severe - but he had a reason that was logical to him, and his reply to the boys likely would have been, "Get over it!". As several have said, life was hard for such people and there was little margin for soft-heartedness. Would you be willing to have soft-heartedness and hunger co-exist? Quite likely the Grandfather was marksman enough that he could have shot the dirt beside the dog to have been thrown up and both stung and frightened the dog, but he took more direct action, as many did. Life didn't have the nuances for them that it does for many of us. The idea of someone shooting over the heads of kids invading their land was quite foreign to me. I have four barn cats, one of which loves to be scratched and petted - but if I pick her up, she jumps down. Another cat lets me pet him, and enjoys it some, but is a bit reluctant. Drat him, he's a bit of a scairdey cat, but when I pour feed into each of three or four dishes in turn ... he has to be there to eat immediately from all four dishes in turn! A half-grown kitten that I didn't see until it could run pretty well has got to where it'll let me pet it when it's looking for feed, but not at other times. Its mother will follow me around, even quite closely ... but if my hand gets a bit too close ... she draws blood. It is nigh impossible for modern, city-raised people to understand what life was like for such impoverished people who, as several have said, hunted for meat in the woods and fields. I'm glad that you felt comfortable enough with this place to have come to share your question. By extension ... many people who live in other parts of the world look at life very differently than we, and I think that at times it would be well if we were to sit down with them to learn of their ways - and to share our viewpoints. It seems to me quite likely that we would find that we had more in common than appeared at first, as I think we came to realize regarding this situation. When I was a kid, some folks in town had a metal-lined wooden box that looked something like modern fridges and men drove horse-drawn boxy wagons with tons of ice in them down the street, carrying a block into many houses to put into the top compartment. We on the farm pumped cold water by hand from the well in the yard to put into a pan in the basement, where we stored butter, meat and other perishables in bowls floating in the water, changing it as it warmed. Within a few years, they built refrigerators. Within a few years after that, they were building them to last for 40 years ... now they build them to last for 10 years. I've heard that for the world's people to live in the fashion to which we've become accustomed (in about 3 generations) ... we'd need the resources of four planets similar to that on which we live. We are hugely wasteful. We have a lot to learn from those people who lived more simply. And as more jobs are shifting overseas, our descendants are going to be learning them. Several areas of the seas that used to teem with fish are now almost barren - we didn't practise conservation. Our kids and grandkids will suffer the consequences. We still have about the cheapest food in the world ... but one doubts whether that will last much longer. Currently, many thousands of U.S. and Canadian families are about half a dozen paycheques from being on the street ... but we've forgotten how to forage for food, as our forebears did, out of necessity. We are much more brittle, less resourceful and adaptable. Good wishes for a really fine week ahead. ole joyful

A - age? 40 - ich! B - born on what day of the week? Monday c - chore you hate? Drying dishes D - dad's name? Peter E - essential grooming item? toothbrush F - favorite actor? Robert Redford G - gold or silver? Gold H - hobby? hmmm... does dog agility count? I - instruments you play? piano J - job? Information Systems Coordinator for a law firm K - kids? none... L - living arrangements? with Mom M - mom's name? Helen N - number of pets you currently have? one - Callie... a doll! O - overnight hospital stays? 2... age 8 and age 38 P - phobias? claustrophobia Q - quote you like best? "Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius." R - recreation you take part in? tennis and golf S - siblings? one brother - older T - time you rise in the morning? sometime before 7 a.m. U - unique habit? putting my cell phone near my watch so I won't forget either of them V - vegetable you refuse to eat? lima beans W - worst habit? biting my fingernails (thank goodness for fake nails!) x - x-rays you have had? lots!! head, teeth, chest, sinuses, arm! Y - yummy food you make? Stuffed Shells Z - zodiac sign? Cancer Barbara_Tampa

If we are going to show outrage against racism, let us talk about black on black violence in Chicago.To this date, it remains a high crime area , a city with the highest crime rate, and now the Mayor is turning his back on the Chicago PD, a child sleeping in a crib is shot in a drive by shooting, can you imagine that. I have lived there and seen the devastation first hand and it is heartbreaking. Same Chicago where a group of black teens kidnapped and tortured a white autistic boy and CNN's Don Lemon ( our expert on racism) said " I don't think it's evil, I don't think it's evil. I think these are young people , and I think they have bad home training", so he wasn't giving them a pass. Black on white crime is acceptable, how many people have become victims to the knockout game? There was no outrage, no marches, nothing, What about Planned parenthood which to this day is celebrating Margaret Sanger , targeting young black women and black communities just yesterday it was revealed that they secretly performed abortions on 12-13 year olds , who have been abused and sent them back to the abuser. Then comes Voter ID, many claim it's racist, they say Blacks do not know how to get one , if that isn't that bigotry, then what is. If we are going to talk about ABC values what about this - ABC hired Victor Salva, a convicted child molester, who served 15 months in jail for molesting a boy aged 8-12 years and videotaped it to direct the film "powder" Selective outrage has become a norm.