Hi Rusty, I figured as much. I appreciate the importance of peace, joy, thankfulness and inspiration, which you reported as guideposts in your life. They've guided my life, as well. There's only one letter different, just three spaces apart in the alphabet, at the very end of the word, between "peace" and "peach". You can hold your outstretched, cupped hand up in the air as long as you choose and unless you're in Georgia or Niagara or a limited number of other locations, and even there, for only a limited period of time, each year ... no peach will ever show up there. Roots, a trunk, branches, leaves and blossoms (plus bees or other pollinators) are essential if one desires to produce a peach. Peace also does not appear by magic or as a result of wishing or hoping, however fervent. Roots of justice, a trunk of fairness, branches of kindness, leaves of cooperation and blossoms of love-inspired sharing are essential in developing peace. And some minds and bodies to provide the fertilizing (and in the situation of peacemmaking, to do a great deal of thinking and work along with that of many allies) to bring forth the desired result. Lacking those essential ingredients ... ... and major effort invested ... ... the cake of peace just ain't a gonna happen!! (Can you offer a comparison to throw in to symbolize the heat required to make that cake rise?) ole joyfuelled

Sorry...I didn't mean to sound so harsh...perhaps I'm too tired and too testy with all the holiday stuff bearing down on me. It's all fine.

"2 1/2 holer", huh? Are you sure that's the hole truth? Just what is a half of a hole - does one cut only half way through the board? Perhaps we should sit down to contemplate this. Yes, I've used 'em - away from home, though my first experience of a bathrooom with running water was when at 18 I went to the University of Saskatchewan - in 1947. Not that I (and the whole fam damily) had saved up through those years! In summer we'd go from kitchen/dining room through summer kitchen, into a narrow porch/lean-to with a door at the far end leading to 2-holer, over 2 large buckets that Dad or hired man hauled occasionally to add the the pile of manure by the 5 - 6 horse barn. Would one call that "half way to an 'outhouse' "? In winter there was a metal can with a holey seat and lid in one of the six bedrooms upstairs, with a vent to one of the five chimnies, most of which unused after furnace installed a number of years earlier, 4 of which chimnies Dad had removed a few years later, before bricks fell off to break some slates on the roof. Cistern in basement with pump on sink in pantry offered soft water for washing and well in back yard offered water in a bucket via a hand-operated pump for drinking and cooking. The well needed cleaning, but Dad feared to go down to clean lest rocks and bricks in the wall fall on his head. In the midst of the Dirty Thirties, Depression, Dad had a well drilled by the house and a cold water tap installed on the other end of the sink. Also water lines to three barns to serve the horses, cows (and bull), pigs and chickens. Sorry, I lied. Soon after the end of World War II we moved from our farm in Ontario to a rented one in Saskatchewan and we used an outhouse there. In summer - but it gets down to 40 below (same in both Fahrenheit and Centigrade) in winter - so there was an alternative in the basement (only two bedrooms in second storey). At 17 when we moved, I spent only a couple years on that farm. After only a few years, Dad bought one. ole joyful

@Jassydip 1. Move cat to other room. 2. Close door on return. 3. Close ears to anticipated complaint. @June rosebush ... newly minted commentary related to hope for change in lifestyle? @dedretired ... some folks experienced in speaking in public claim that paying attention to enunciation can avoid complications, even/(especially?) for people visiting banks while masked (and including tellers). ole joyful