Dad's Shore Life
John's PictureI'm a lot of things, husband, son, business person, web site guy, photographer, wanna-be artist....the list just goes on; but the mostly, I'm dad.
Life in a Jar -- Irena Sendler
It's time for another look at the email inbox, this time I found one of those emails that sounded to good to be real. This had to be a made up story, just to get get people to forward it. Turns out that reality was actually better (worse?) than the email.
I will not go into details, but I will encourage you to follow the links below and read more about this remarkable woman from the old world and the remarkable young women from the new world that gave a story life.
Here is the email, I have inserted dates/corrections in parenthesis to correct the context of the email:
Irena Sendler
There recently (May, 2008) was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer (actually she worked for the health department) specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being Polish.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried, and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.
The Spoiled Under-30 Crowd!
by John K. Johnson
We all have one (or more) friends who send us every stupid email in the world; every dumb joke, every cause - real or not, every outrage (again, real or not). Most of us delete 99% of these emails and get on with our lives. Me, I tend to read them, scream at them, research them and send them back to the original sender with the results of my research telling them just how WRONG the email was.
However, every once in a while, you get one that is worth your time, you read it, you enjoy it, you share it with your significant other, or forward it to you email list - or you post it on your website!
THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning....
Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways ...Yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in &*^% I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a $#^% Utopia!
There's a ???? ???? in the Toilet!
You just know that can't be good.
I'm just sitting there, minding my own business, and I hear the sound that makes every parent freeze in their tracks. At least, one of my kids is screaming with that voice; it's the voice that says "There is arterial gushing from my neck region", or "She touched me". I struggle to make out the content of the scream through the door that is separating us.
"There is ???? ______ in ???? upstairs toilet." Oh yeah, I wanted to hear that. Maybe I can pretend to be asleep?
Chickens are tough!
One Tough ChickenIt has started getting cold here on the shore. (Not as cold as Tok, Alaska, -78F last I heard) It has been getting down into the 20s at night and, of course, we are concerned for the newest members of our family.
This is our first winter with chickens and I have been having nightmares about getting up one morning and finding 8 chicken-sicles hanging upside down from the perch in their chicken coop. Guess what, chickens are a lot tougher than they appear.
Evening Contrails
Contrails at SunsetWe were heading to Cambridge to hear our friend Anne Watts and Boister play their latest CD live, when we got a feast for our eyes.
The Great Bathroom Hunt
by Cyndi Paxton Johnson
Motherhood is the most amazing experience on earth (not having left the third rock, I can't speak for other places). I am constantly amazed by the intricate details of life that non-parents would never, ever consider.
Take bathrooms, for example.
For most of us, a bathroom is a simple necessity of life. Though we prefer to use private facilities, we will, when necessary, seek out the public restroom. For kids - using a new and different bathroom is like a mini trip to Disneyland (and much more affordable). I expected to spend the toddler years in more public bathrooms than I knew existed - and was not disappointed. Indeed, with three children we spent more time in restrooms than we did in the stores or restaurants! In fact - we ended up deciding WHERE to go by choosing the best bathroom!
"I'm NOT going to that McDonald's near your parents - the bathroom is filthy!"
"NO! We can't go play at the Burger King playground - they don't have a changing table!" (this was a NEW BK north of Frederick, complete with playground. I asked the OWNER why there wasn't a changing table in a CHILD friendly restaurant and was told they were "too dirty". I threatened to change my baby's diaper on their front counter, but never got up the nerve to follow through!)
Turns out that high-end malls have the best bathrooms - and the most! Since they also have awesome play areas and multiple book stores it was a perfect family destination for a couple with three kids aged 3 and under.
Then we moved to the country. No malls - but LOTS of cornfields. We started carrying a child's potty chair in the back of the van, complete with plastic grocery bags to line the pot. We had to pull off the road more times than I can count - but it worked. I was VERY excited when the last child became school age - no more traveling potty chairs!!
Turns out their fascination with bathrooms - and need to use bathrooms frequently - did NOT change. The kid's are now 8, 10 & 11 - and I STILL spend more time looking for bathrooms than I spend doing laundry (which might explain why I'm dressed in mis-matched stripes). Just yesterday we visited Grandma - 75 minutes away. Knowing my children, I made sure they all "went" before we left. [for those without children - this involves telling EACH child at least three times, then quizzing them, then sending them AGAIN (cause they failed the quiz), quizzing again, Repeat until all three kids answer affirmatively. (don't worry if they don't have shoes - they're only going to Grandma's).
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