tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82469909687095040062024-03-04T23:32:08.827-08:00A Moment With MaralysMaralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-22808039259926016322021-08-25T11:01:00.000-07:002021-08-25T11:01:52.748-07:00
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>False<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adages</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">No
Pain, No Gain:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of all the false,pig-headed
adages, This should be <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>near the top of
the list.</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Last
year a dear friend had knee surgery, and it was almost healed, and no
pain,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an ardent physical therapist took over; in one
session he undid all the healing she’d had thus far.</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This
morning I was reminded again, when I woke up with a very painful knee;</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
my zeal to get stronger after a stroke, I decided I wouldn’t sit down after a short trip with the walker, until ID done 20 tippy-toes and ten monisquats--
squats which-are much harder-especially on the knees- And then I raised it to...
40 squats, and paid the price this morning..for my prior willingness to endure
slowly increasing bouts of pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p>
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<![endif]-->Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-9960402382037821682021-01-27T13:54:00.003-08:002021-01-27T13:54:51.723-08:00NEW BOOK---JUST OUT! A GIRL FOR ALL; SEASONS<p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 186.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">NEW BOOK---JUST OUT!<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A GIRL FOR ALL; SEASONS</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial Black"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%;"><b><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">a girl for all seasons:A world class athlete's story of tragedy,
triumph, and perseverance, </span></b><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Tracy
Worley Hagen, has been a winner in three sports and mayor of her growing city
four times. Her triumphs have been tempered by the deaths of two brothers and
two husbands, but she persevered to raise two remarkable children, and to lead
a very full life.</span></p>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-29975353445092341302020-12-26T12:58:00.005-08:002021-01-27T14:12:16.952-08:00SHOULD READERS BUY BOOKS FROM AMAZON OR DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR?<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><u>SHOULD
READERS BUY BOOKS FROM AMAZON OR DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR?</u></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"> </p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;">Here’s what I told a friend-</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"> </p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">There’s lots of
good news about buying books directly from me!</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;">First, all my books are ten
dollars(except the writing book, “Damn the rejections”) which is $5 with your
choice of colors-orange, green, aqua, purple) </p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Second, every book is always autographed.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Third, I use a
priority envelope which cost $7.35 and gets there fast.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Fourth, I can
fit two books in one priority envelope, two books for one shipping price. $7.75</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Buyers
can just send me an email Maralys@cox.net with a return address—and I trust
people to send me a check. Amazon is slower and gives authors practically
nothing.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;">Direct to me has every
advantage—and I love to hear from readers personally. Plus Amazon never tells me
which books have been sold.—an<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>important
feature’ if you’re a much- published writer.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"> </p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 3in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Oceans of love, Maralys</p>
<p> </p>Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-49148683139203575932020-11-09T13:07:00.001-08:002020-11-09T13:07:59.141-08:00Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-52012739358781034982020-11-07T20:34:00.002-08:002020-11-09T13:28:35.815-08:00APERFECT START<p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">A PERFECT START</span></u></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">“I’m Jill Biden’s
husband.” The start to a presidential acceptance speech? Nah! That first line
endeared Joe Biden to every wife in the country.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">If I’d been his
advisor, I’d consider myself a genius. Well, how great we got the president we wanted.</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">Joe Biden may be the world's most gracious leader<br /></span></p>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-629623729974616832020-03-28T14:21:00.000-07:002020-03-28T14:21:46.962-07:00SHELTERING IN PLACE--AL FRESCO <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">SHELTERING
IN PLACE—AL FRESCO <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nobody would have predicted it--that my
daughter’s 61<sup>st</sup> birthday would turn us all into magicians. And manage,
somehow, to create memories that will last forever. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How different it was last year, when eight
family members flew to Tahiti to celebrate Tracy’s big milestone and for nearly three
weeks cruised back to the states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
how glad we are (we veteran cruisers), that this was a no-cruise year. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Still, a large party was planned for Tracy—until it turned out the whole state of California was under
decree to hunker down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Shelter in
place”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>did not mean that the state, or
even a tiny fraction thereof, was supposed to shelter in Tracy’s family room for food and games. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Instead, a large group of friends took individual
videos of themselves dancing and cheering, sent them to a clever friend, who
spliced the videos onto a single tape, and forwarded them to our daughter as a
token of enduring friendship. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Which still left hours for an electric bike
ride to the beach for Tracy and Paul and a friend over bike paths they
described as so serene, so wild and rustic, they resemble a countryside that
most non-bikers aren’t aware exists—at least not within a few miles of Newport
Beach. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And still . . . what about dinner?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that, the story gets complicated. Tracy invited Chris and
Betty-Jo, Dane and Zhanina, and Rob and me over for a special chez Paul created<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dinner. I asked my son if he and Betty-Jo
were going. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“No,” Chris said sternly, “and you and
Rob shouldn’t go either.” He was adamant. Thanks to his doctor colleagues and a
lot of private medical communications, he knows better than any of us the
dangers that lie in wait for people our ages. “Countries with more ventilators per
capita than in the U.S.
have to make choices about who to give them to—and you know which group never
gets them. ” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With that, Rob and I decided to stay
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But later Tracy called. “We can pull this off,” she
said. “But it’s cold outside. Be sure and wear heavy jackets.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later Dane called. “Don’t come through
the house, Grandma,” he said. “Use the side gate and go straight to the patio.
And oh . . . ” he paused, “it’s really cold out.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another change of direction. Rob found
his huge leather jacket and a leather top hat, and I wriggled into two layers
of fleece, and we both drew on blue plastic gloves, and off we went to Paul and
Tracy’s – and on through their gate. I envisioned the scenario. The two of us
would eat inside and the four of them outside on the patio. To me, the “cold” warnings
were about getting there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All wrong. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Once there, we were told to get
comfortable on the patio. And never mind the lowest evening temperature we’ve seen
in weeks and a nasty wind blowing off the nearest snow pack. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tracy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
opened the closest dinette window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The
food will be there in a minute,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she
offered. Then she took another look at me. “You look cold, Mom,” she said.
“I’ll bring you a blanket.” Soon she was out the door, wearing gloves and an
N95 mask. First she tossed me a furry white blanket, then from behind, jammed a
cap down over my head. “I love Dad’s hat!” she said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Minutes later, she and Paul, both
wearing masks, slid a seafood jumbo down the long wooden table, followed by
plates of excellent steak, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. Meanwhile, the
dinette windows remained open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon the
four of them—inside--sat down to eat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The whole scenario was eerie. We were
“with” them, yet we weren’t. We were at least 18 feet away. Through the open
windows we could hear each other perfectly—while observing that they were all
trying not to make it obvious that the same breeze which was chilling us wasn’t
exactly kind to them. We all pretended otherwise. The dialogue flowed back and
forth semi-normally, though I noticed we didn’t stay on one topic long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In spite of all those donated extra
layers, I was not in a stay-here-long mood. Yes, the backyard was beautiful.
And the setup was ingenious, kind of funny, probably safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my thoughts lay in telling Chris how
cleverly (and, how freezingly), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it all
worked out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to brag about Tracy and Paul’s
ingenuity and their great food and how remarkably we kept the virus at
bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Pulling the blanket tighter, I told a
few stories I suspect I’ve told before. From inside they rewarded me with
laughter. Then Tracy
read her birthday cards—especially poignant from Dane and Z.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, dessert couldn’t come fast enough . .
. brownies and ice cream. As we all finished, Dane stood, and from inside he took
pictures of the family. Happily, they included all of us—but Rob and I were distant
spectres, almost ghosts lurking somewhere in the background, barely in view.
Most remarkable of all was Rob’s hat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By then, I couldn’t wait to get into
our car’s seat heaters. And besides, I had to go to the bathroom. As it turned
out, so did Rob. Clearly, after all that effort, we couldn’t enter the house,
and the bushes were no option. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We thanked Paul, Tracy, Dane, and Z
profusely—which they deserved. We sent them all fake hugs and hurried
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been a birthday party like
no other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">THE NEXT DAY, WE noticed the new
neighbors across the street were entertaining friends—all outside on the front
lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among them were lots of paper
cups, some small children, and some older folks. “I hope you’re staying six
feet apart,” I called through the car window. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They laughed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“These are our parents,” they said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So yes, we are.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I PREDICT THAT NINE months from now there will be a lot of
babies born to couples who are currently not working, who live together—and who
see no reason to remain six feet apart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-78434675022842573072020-03-18T18:31:00.000-07:002020-03-19T10:59:43.125-07:00A CRAZY WORLD--AND NO WATER <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A
CRAZY WORLD—AND NO WATER</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of course it’s a crazy world—we all
know it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But it’s even crazier if you’re a senior
in a category of maximum virus vulnerability . . . and suddenly you have no water. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It all began so innocently, thanks in
part to my having a superior sense of smell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(It’s nice, these days, to have a superior sense of anything!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, as I stood near the kitchen sink, I
began smelling that musty, give-away odor of something having been wet. With
that, I began exploring under the sink. No, our new reverse-osmosis
machine<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was not leaking. The floor
beneath it was dry. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I searched through nearby cupboards.
Dry everywhere. Was I imagining the smell? “Are you catching that odor,
Rob?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he wasn’t. In time I gave up
my fruitless search. Yet the kitchen sink kept emanating impolite messages. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A week went by. And then I heard
it—somewhere in the house, water was running. A lot of water. I stood and
listened. “You can’t hear that noise, Rob?” He tried to accommodate me. “Maybe
the soft water tank is recycling. Could you be hearing that, Babe, out in the
garage?” He double-checked the garage, our sprinklers, the outside hoses.
Nothing. Yet I was adamant. My ears were not deceiving me. When there’s an
outpouring of liquid within a house, it doesn’t sound like a faraway concert,
or a distant air hammer, it sounds like water. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunday night we called Chris, told him
our concerns. “I’ll be home tomorrow,” he said. “Can’t help from here.”
Mid-afternoon Monday he was standing in our kitchen, ear to the floor. He
searched a little further. “It’s under the house,” he said, “and it’s running
pretty good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was now the witching
hour for doctors and plumbers—5 p.m. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Immediately I called a plumber—but even
their emergency number wouldn’t pick up. No recourse but to call the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">expensive</i> plumber, the one whose bills
were a down payment on a car. They must have needed the business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We’ll be there tomorrow at nine.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Meanwhile, Chris went outside and turned
off the house water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inside taps stopped flowing . . . . . except I hadn’t thought to fill up any containers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was home again when I asked if I could
stop by and fill a few bottles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Just go
outside, Mom, and turn on the water briefly—long enough to get what you
need.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rob was home sick—by now out of
action. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“But it’s dark,” I said, “and it’s
raining, and the turn-on is deep in wet bushes—if I can even find it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sighed. “So come on up,” he said at
last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t have to say it. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They’ve lived there more than half a century—yet
Mom doesn’t even know how you turn off the water.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So
okay,</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I argued silently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In our
house, men have always dealt with spigots. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The next day, the silver-jeweled
plumber confirmed what Chris already knew—for $170 (per crawl), he crawled under
the house and reported back that our two-day flood had produced a two-inch
swimming pool—under all 4,000 feet of raised foundation. Before anything could
be done, we’d need the services of the platinum-jeweled<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>EMERGENCY PLUMBERS, who, after more crawling
brought us a contract—this time for a down payment on a condo. Furthermore,
his second deep-mud crawl revealed that the house turnoff did not stop the actual
below-decks shooting stream. It seems our house turnoff is now so old it has
all the strength of a centurion sumo wrestler. Only Tustin’s Water Company could accomplish anything
noticeable. More phone calls, more delays. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So here’s where we stand: no water, but
excessive noise from two dry-out-the-water outside fans. “They’re really loud,” the installer
admitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Loud” is an
understatement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They practically rattle
the house. The noise goes way beyond annoying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No hand washing, no dish washing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To flush a potty, Rob brings in one of his
precious buckets of collected rain water . . . or we heat it on the stove to rinse the
occasional dish. "This is like an overnight in the woods," Rob said. "I never did like camping." To bathe, we gather shampoos and razors and drive to Chris and Betty-Jo's.
At home, every other minute I’m searching for some way to rinse my hands. Do I use
rainwater, or nothing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called a
drugstore. Purell, a hand disinfectant--not available anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But even this craziness has its good moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides the huge helpfulness of our nearby
kids (who’ve each offered us a bedroom—but we prefer sleeping at home) . . .
was today’s incident at our bank. Still in pajamas, Rob drove me there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I sat six feet back from the teller, I
eyed the container of Purell sitting on the counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First time I’ve ever thought of robbing a
bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally I spoke up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“At home we have no water. Can I buy one of
your bottles of hand sanitizer?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The tellers looked surprised. (Days
ago, they’d called us offering extra help).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One lady made a quick decision—she jumped up and opened a cupboard,
brought back the priceless jar. “Here,” she said, and wouldn’t accept payment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I thanked her profusely, then said to
the other teller, “Usually I eye your candy. Today, not at all.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that, she reached into an undercounter
jar and handed me a fistful of wrapped Easter chocolates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Back at the car, I startled the heck
out of Rob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Look what the bank gave
me!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, at least, the Purell was
suddenly more precious than money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still
sitting there, we each had a chocolate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
proves there’s magic in even the smallest bit of kindness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-20178728820293368592020-03-09T12:18:00.000-07:002020-03-09T14:22:48.949-07:00THE CORONA VIRUS--A POSSIBLE REMEDY <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">THE
CORONA VIRUS—A
POSSIBLE REMEDY</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like everyone, I’m alarmed—at times
terrified—of the Corona virus. As great-grandparents, Rob and I are in the worst
possible category . . . where for once, wisdom and probable lifelong imunities
are no life-saving barrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Making the scenario even worse, since
this is a virus and not a bacterium, the CDC and NIH know that antibiotics are
useless—as they are for the virus-driven common cold. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Which brings up a point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Years ago, scientist Linus Pauling found that
extra-large doses of Vitamin C, if taken early, are often effective against the
virus-driven cold. In fact, we’ve got a highly-respected lawyer friend (a
judge), who believes in this “cure” so ardently, that part of her regular routine
involves taking a daily dose of Vitamin C—and a bigger dose if she feels ill.
Now past ninety, she says, “In my whole life, I’ve never been sick longer than
one day.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With that information, I have stopped
many a cold in its tracks—which requires big, early doses of the vitamin—1000
mg. per hour for a few hours--plus a total avoidance of sugar. The good news is
that we’ve had confirmed independently by several doctors, that Vitamin C in
large doses, (unlike some other vitamins), presents no risk of toxicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kidneys merely excrete the excess—while hopefully,
the extra dose does its job. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Suddenly I’m thinking, If Vitamin C
works against the virus-driven “cold” why not against the world’s sudden onslaught
of the Corona virus? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it possible that
a quick end to the risk from exposure might result from a massive dose of
Vitamin C?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And no sugar)? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m no doctor, nor pretend to be more
than a logical, persistent German who’s had years of first-hand evidence that
for me, at least (and a few of my friends and relatives), the Vitamin C “cure”
works against one kind of virus--the common cold. Whether it works against this
more virulent enemy is open to question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m simply throwing this “out there” as a possibility. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Meanwhile, instead of shopping at
Costco and stocking up on toilet paper, I intend to stock up on Vitamin C—the kind
in which sugar is not an ingredient. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An Important P.S. Those very high Vitamin "C" doses are only intended for the first onset of symptoms--way lower for normal, every-day use. </div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-83179695279992268812020-01-28T09:32:00.000-08:002020-01-28T09:32:32.796-08:00AN IRONY FOR THE AGES<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">AN
IRONY FOR THE AGES</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Way back in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1800, (according to Monday’s Los
Angeles Times), Thomas Jefferson and Aaron
Burr, both running for president, were tied—amazingly--in Electoral College
votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One house of Congress was forced
to decide between them. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As it developed, the political party
making the decision did not feel either man represented their beliefs, but
decided that Aaron Burr would be much easier to control, that he would bend to
their wishes. Ready to cast their votes for Burr, they were stopped by an incensed
Alexander Hamilton, who stepped in to dissuade them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Noting that Burr was a man he knew well from New York political and
legal circles, he said Burr was “deficient in honesty”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and “one of the most unprincipled men in the UStates.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hamilton also said, “When a man
unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper;
possessed of considerable talents” . . . “having the advantage of military
habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanor—known to have scoffed in private at
the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobbyhorse of
popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of
embarrassing the General Government and bringing it under suspicion—to flatter
and fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day—it may justly be
suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride
the storm and direct the whirlwind.’” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Still, the deciding party had already
observed that Jefferson’s principles, as
Secretary of State, did not please them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet Alexander Hamilton persisted in his arguments. If Burr was made
president, Hamilton
said, “he will disturb our institutions,” and “disgrace our Country
abroad.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would “listen to no monitor
but his ambition,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and further, he was
(to quote the Times) governed by a singular position—“to get power by any means
and keep it by all means.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Though Hamilton
knew Jefferson did not please the deciding
party, he would not give up his clamor against Aaron Burr.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least, he said in one of his dozen letters
to Congress, Jefferson was a man devoted to
the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In today’s impeachment conflicts, Adam
Schiff has become our Alexander Hamilton, quoting this astute distant scholar for
the benefit of the American public—noting how much Burr and Trump have in
common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But it was the Los Angeles Times that
made this point: “In a striking echo to the impeachment charges against Trump, Hamilton further noted
that if Burr ever reached the White House, there was a risk that, for the
purpose of self-benefit, he would undertake<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“a bargain and sale with some foreign power, or combinations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with public agents in projects of gain by
means of the public monies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The dismissal of Burr’s candidacy did
not come easily: It took 36 ballots to achieve the presidency in Thomas
Jefferson’s favor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we look back at Aaron Burr—this earlier version of Donald Trump—some of
us wonder whether our country and our constitution would have survived under
the dishonesty and political ambitions of Aaron Burr.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would he, too, have lied to the public some
4000 times?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How often has Trump bragged that he
could shoot someone on Fifth
Avenue in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York City and “my
voters would still support me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, the irony is, years ago, that
exact scenario occurred: In a duel that should have been stopped, Aaron Burr
killed Alexander Hamilton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And ever
since, everyone who has read a history book has come to despise the name of
Aaron Burr.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-43930684733756426372020-01-10T10:33:00.001-08:002020-01-10T10:33:46.385-08:00OUR FAMILY'S CRAZY CHRISTMAS <div class="MsoNormal">
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">OUR
FAMILY’S CRAZY CHRISTMAS:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">TRAP
DOORS, MIDNIGHT BURGLARIES, AND A VOICE BEHIND THE COUCH</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It all began in Amsterdam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our granddaughter and her husband, in Holland, needed a larger house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As in California,
homes are expensive, so they were barely able to afford an older,
two-story,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>owned for years by a woman
who was born and, in her old age, died there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But after the late-year deal was closed, they made an astonishing
discovery: their two-story home was actually three stories, with a
never-revealed full basement. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And how did they know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a contractor began renovations,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he discovered a trap door, leading to a
ladder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of all places, the trap door was
in the bathroom, hidden UNDER the linoleum. Meaning the house was now a third
more valuable than anyone had suspected. Even the ladder was a mystery,
descending into a basement filled to the brim with sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But what was the purpose of the
mysterious trap door? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since when
were trap doors located in bathrooms?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nobody knows, but speculations are
rampant. Perhaps during WW II, the basement was used to sequester and protect a
family of Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or perhaps the sand is
hiding a treasure of Dutch art work from marauding Nazis in 1940, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>such as paintings or statuary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until the sand is removed, the house and its
secrets will not be revealed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Extensive
renovation permissions in Holland
are slow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until then, the larger family
holds its breath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Soon after, our daughter’s two children
and their significant others spent Christmas in Tracy’s
Tustin home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Christmas Eve, grandson Dane was awakened
by a one a.m. alarm on his phone:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
he runs a video business, he was able to see a man running through his company,
with computers under his arms . . . and also that a glass door was
shattered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dane woke Tracy’s Paul, and together the two arrived at
two a.m., called the police, and found that three computers had been
stolen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was blood on the
floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The police offered no reasonable
solutions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Two nights later it happened
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same thief. Two more computers
gone, including Tracy’s.
And a photo of the thief on house video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now Tracy
got involved. After the police said they had more important jobs than solving
property crimes, Tracy called an old friend, the
mayor of Santa Ana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(As a once four-year mayor herself, she had a
good relationship with Miguel Polido.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Polido was eager to help. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not one to let thieves disrupt a family
business,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tracy scouted the neighborhood and nearby
found a homeless tent encampment—and possibly a view of the oft-filmed crook. A
few days later, three pickle ball friends gave themselves a new title, Crime Fighters,
and joined Tracy
in secretly scouting the tents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
they found were three bums in a raging argument with a Uber driver. After they
all drove away, Tracy’s posse followed them in a
jeep—a long drive through the streets of Santa Ana,
with Tracy continuously
on the phone to Police Dispatch,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>keeping
them informed of their location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
the Uber stopped in front of a bank, so did the police. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Within minutes all three men, including
the video burglar, were handcuffed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two
had outstanding warrants. Later that day, Santa
Ana police sent Dane an email message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We just want to thank you for your friends,
who so determinedly ran down two crooks.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tracy told
us with a laugh, “They never knew that one of the “friends” was his
mother.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Last, in celebration of Rob’s and my 71<sup>st</sup>
anniversary, January 3,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we were invited
to our son Chris and Betty-Jo’s Tustin
home for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course significant
family members had celebrated the year before, including our son Ken and his
wife from Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we knew this year only the locals would be
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, when Rob and I were
directed to Betty-Jo’s living room couch and handed a drink,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>after a couple of minutes we heard a
distinctive voice, somewhere behind us, say, “Can’t a guy get a decent meal around
here?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instantly, I recognized the voice
as our son, Ken . . . and I thought, Where did they get this audio tape? Unlike
me, Rob knew it wasn’t a tape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The voice
was practically in his ear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Suddenly, Ken jumped out from behind
the couch—easily one of the greatest surprises I’ve had in decades. Once again,
Rob and I reveled in our family’s recognition of our long marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the family’s determination to make Ken’s
visit a huge moment. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Except for the house in Amsterdam,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we expect the craziness of this year’s
Christmas season is now over. </span></div>
<br />
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-11185327492766229002019-12-22T14:04:00.000-08:002019-12-22T14:04:27.809-08:00WHERE IS EVERYBODY? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">WHERE
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IS</i> EVERYBODY?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That was my first thought this
morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even as I emerged from the
bedroom, half-drugged from a long sleep, I had this feeling, made worse as I
looked down our silent, back-bedroom hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Where are they now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can I make
it through the day—knowing they won’t be waiting for me up in the World
Cafe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Starboard Side, of course.” That
Rob and I will have breakfast without them—and nearly as bad, Whatever we eat,
I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will have to make most of it. Darn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yeah, it’s a shame,” said Rob. “The
place does seem kind of empty, doesn’t it?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then, “When are you going to start our egg and toast, Babe?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which brought me up short, along with yesterday’s
early evening statement, “My suitcase is empty.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, unlike prior trips, mine wasn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And thus came the
Day-After-The-Trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cruise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no ordinary trip, you see, because there
were twelve of us aboard the Viking Sea, cruising the distant Caribbean.
Eight of whom were grandchildren and their various spice . . . (what else works
as the plural of “spouse?”) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What to do except start calling their
various households—bent on telling them how much I missed them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nine a.m., should be safe enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it certainly was. Turns out they’d all
been texting each other since four this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Can’t believe I’m doing laundry at 4:30 a.m.
”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Went to the grocery store—I was the
only one there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The car wash was
empty.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Too bad you don’t text,
Grandma,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>said Christy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We had quite the chain going.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she read me their comments, I couldn’t
have agreed more. As a texter, I’m the world’s slowest, and even worse, my
quietly-beeping phone is never where I am, so it’s no use being on anyone’s
chain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As to the trip, it had dozens of great
moments: all of us at dinner together in a small, twelve-person private dining
room, joined by the ship’s four-stripe, chief Engineer from Bulgaria, put
together because Zhanina, Dane’s fiancé, is also from Bulgaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to his heavy accent, Rob and I
couldn’t understand a word he said, but he kept everyone else laughing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The moments when we got to know various
spice a lot better. There’s Matt, the computer whiz who, the day before the
trip, finished a project for Oracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
knew Matt mostly as the guy who performed miracles whizzing his distant mouse
across my rebelling computer screen—but never as the quiet listener who reveled
in the ship’s classical violin duo performances. Rob and I spent hours with
Kelly and Matt in after-dinner hours of rapt, pleasurable silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve agreed he’ll now attend some of the local
classical music events (as members of a music support group), that take place
in homes blocks from ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Then there was Mike, whose vacation
hair across the breakfast table at first made me yearn for a comb. But
eventually I came to appreciate the hair—and all because of the smart, funny, intense
guy who was under it. We spent hours with Mike in lively conversation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Then Dan, who’s always been noteworthy
as unusually kind—but not as our gang’s resident <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>best-dresser, second only to Tracy’s Paul—who himself is notable, with Rob
and me, as the family’s clothes horse and “man we can’t do without.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Throughout the trip there were
grandkids and spice who jumped up to bring Rob and me various servings from the
cafeteria—and at other times to help us with luggage or merely our own
faltering feet . . . on and off tour buses, in and out of taxis, or simply on
and off the ship itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I must
add there was no help possible for the dozens of trips the two of us made the
length of the ship—from our stateroom in the bow to the dining rooms in the
stern. We kept repeating the same mantra: “God, this hall is damn well endless.
Down there at the end, I can’t even see our room. I can hardly believe
it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, “I’m glad this walk is so
good for us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Though Rob, as always, made instant
friends with all the waiters, discussing their countries of origin and learning
to say ‘thank you’ in their language. . . because of our larger crowd we made no
friends, beyond passing Hellos, with any of the other guests. However, there
was one such moment that stands out: Near the end of the trip a steel band
performed out near the pool deck. Thanks to the music’s lively beat (and no
doubt helped by the rum drinks). . . our family, sitting as a unified group,
kept jumping up to dance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our daughter, Tracy, quickly helped
form a Congo
group which rounded the deck. Then, one by one, the grandkids forced Rob and me
to our feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob did a “cane dance,”
jumping about as he twirled his cane, while two young males took each of my
arms and forced me to dance with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each occasion I
kept going until I ran out of breath. Those moments were both fun and
exhausting—understandable to anyone in his or her ninth decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later that day Mike was stopped by a
spectator who’d been leaning over a balcony, observing. The woman said to
Mike:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I was watching your family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a bunch. They made me cry.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, for one, had never heard a more touching
comment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-37455621564383706802019-12-04T12:34:00.000-08:002019-12-04T12:34:25.713-08:00A CRITIQUE TO DIE FOR <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A
CRITIQUE TO DIE FOR</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This critique for my book,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Tail on my Mother’s Kite,” came as one</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of those wonderful surprises you can
only hope for as you’re writing the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here are the words from the judge for
the 27<sup>th</sup> Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My penance is, I’ve got to type it all—or
leave out some wonderful stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well,
here goes:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Lovely sense of setting at the start,
with the narrative leading us right up to the aforementioned fire that the
author used so successfully as a grab for the reader’s connection. Very well
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can see that the author knows
her way around descriptions, and as such, we’re present in the scene and eager
for all of the action to come. Very well done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Beautiful phrasing and sense of
movement throughout. “stood there alone, poking at the sky,” stands out for its
imagery and we also get a sense of movement in her actions. This is where the
author flexes mighty narrative muscles, going beyond simple physical description
to what makes an action or observation come alive: multi-layered details in the
sensory realm. Excellent choices here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“The author spent time on every sentence,
crafting without the effort showing. “I wanted to peel off my skin to get
cooler” is another of the sensory details that grabs the reader. My heart
dropped at, “I need a father.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re
getting very deep into emotions. Pace is stellar, with no bumps on the path,
engaging transitions between chapters, dialogue is fully fleshed-out, with
differentiated voices for each of the characters, and I loved that the author
cared about sentence structure in each character’s voice. Impressive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“’The harm that came to him was mostly
because our mother stopped being a mother” stands out as a dramatic wallop at
the end of a chapter, one of the finest cliffhanger insights I’ve seen in this
competition. The stomach sinks when the truth is put out so plainly, and
brutally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All through the middle third
of the book, we’re immersed in dysfunctional scenes, and now we see that the
flame has turned up gradually, so that we might not even have noticed, but the
laser-focused truth in the author’s voice shows that she has been changed by
the progression getting this far along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Subtle tone intensity has led us expertly here, and we’re at the point
where we are changed as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Even our
mother was not able, ultimately, to ruin a basically sound son.” Nice!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A statement of strength, realization, and a Glass
Castles-like overcoming story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very well
done. </span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-5892112364172493292019-11-13T15:51:00.001-08:002019-11-13T15:51:15.557-08:00TRUMP ISN'T THE ONLY HIGH-LEVEL SINNER<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">TRUMP
ISN’T THE ONLY HIGH-LEVEL <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SINNER </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here is a word-for-word blurb from THE
WEEK<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Magazine, November 15 issue:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Page
8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">LONDON</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Barr backlash:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>British officials were taken aback by the
Trump Administration’s request that they help it investigate American
intelligence agencies, British media reported last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attorney General William Barr is overseeing a
criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI’s investigation of Russian
interference in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. intelligence concluded
unequivocally that Russian hacks and covert social media campaigns were aimed
at helping President Trump win the election; some commentators have speculated
that Barr wants to discredit that conclusion. “They are basically asking, in quite
robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence
services,” one diplomat told <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Independent.co.uk.</i>
Barr has also asked Italy
and Australia
to investigate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Attorney General for the United States—or
personal servant of President Trump?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-11714507075172478072019-10-28T11:00:00.000-07:002019-10-28T11:00:00.447-07:00CAN HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">CAN
HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Robert V. Wills </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unless the Democratic party can
accomplish impeachment or come up with a more appealing candidate next year, we
run the risk of repeating the ugly scenario of the 1930’s Third Reich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No one under 90 personally remembers how
a charismatic house painter hypnotized a great country by slogans, racism, doublespeak,
and war on the press, the courts, and the intelligentsia. But I do, and I am
astounded that this America
is as vulnerable to an<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unhinged,
unprincipled, demagogue as it has proven to be. And very worried, because as
evil as Trump is, he is also a clever showman and charlatan when dealing with
uneducated and worried segments of the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s no coincidence that Trump admires
only dictators and hates the press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
is truly a dictator-in-training. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rick
St</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">eves of PBS Travel
has seen the ugly trend and produced a DVD titled, “The Story of Fascism in Europe,” describing the rise of the Third Reich from
start to finish. I recommend that sooner or later every reader of this blog see that DVD. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It plays often on KCET and
lasts only one hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-31590893006862820742019-10-07T09:06:00.000-07:002019-10-07T09:42:17.620-07:00MAKING THE ABNORMAL LOOK NORMAL <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MAKING
THE ABNORMAL LOOK NORMAL
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Trump is nothing if not cagey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When he fights, he does it with a
pugilist’s knowledge of what he can get away with, how far he can go with no
consequences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This was evident years ago when, as a
builder of massive hotels, he hired construction crews who were never paid what
they were owed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the bills came due,
Trump “shook down” the contractors, offering them some lesser fraction of what
he owed, knowing most of them couldn’t afford to sue
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he was right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A protracted and expensive undertaking in
court would ultimately cost the contractors more than they’d get by simply
accepting Trump’s offer of a sharply reduced final payment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lot</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">s
of people knew what he’d been doing—but apparently he never suffered any
reprisals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He’s conducted his whole life that
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We Democrats imagined <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we had him</i> when he was caught secretly asking
Ukraine
for a favor—that they, as a foreign government, assist him by “digging up dirt”
on his political rival, Joe Biden. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
took an unrevealed whistle-blower to catch him. His moves all appeared
underhanded, covert, and at last worthy of a long-overdue impeachment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He broke laws established as presidential
limits way back . . . well, centuries ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And then Trump did the wholly
unexpected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In full view of reporters
with cameras, he <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>asked China to investigate the sins of
the Bidens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some of us caught on immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O.M.G.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">By repeating his formerly sneaky
act in full view of everyone, he’s making it appear normal.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No big deal.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that he also revised his motivation . .
. “I’m just going after corruption everywhere. As a president, I can do that. I
don’t care about the politics.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another
of his several thousand lies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All but a few Republicans were
ecstatic; they bought Trump’s surprising and clever public re-enactment of a
sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For most he made the “sinfulness” all
but go away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hear Republicans on
numerous TV shows depicting his latest crimes as not “worthy” of impeachment.
I’m beginning to think Trump’s wildest declaration might have a grain of truth:
“I could shoot someone on Fifth
Avenue and get away with it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Still, I’m convinced of my own private
truth: most intelligent Republicans find our president personally repugnant; they
stick with him only because he’s managed to give them what they want--tax-reduced
incomes, right-wing judges, and less government. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sadly, the opposing party doesn’t see
what the rest of us see—that massive immorality at the top will ultimately filter
down and doom the country that allows it. It happened in Germany, and in certain ways, like
political denigration of the press, it’s already happening here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-5226345308370167682019-09-02T17:03:00.000-07:002019-09-02T17:03:19.284-07:00ARE MASSACRES REALLY A COMPLICATED PROBLEM? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ARE MASSACRES REALLY A COMPLICATED PROBLEM?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> By Robert V. Wills </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I indicated at
Discussion Group Saturday night, I don’t see why the endless string of gunshot
massacres in the United
States is such a complicated question. It
really boils down to the one obvious factor present in the United States
and absent in the rest of the globe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All of the elements
present in U.S.
massacres are present all over the world—all except one. Angry racists, furious
fired employees, and nobodies seeking notoriety are present in every country.
So are violent video games and movies. So are schizophrenic loners and social
rejects of every stripe. Of course we have psychopaths and oddballs. But so
does every society, and murder is as old as Homo Sapiens’ history and will
always involve humans wracked by stress, rancor, or delusion . . . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No, the pure and
simple cause of American massacres is our one unique factor: the assault weapon
and the clips and magazines that allow mass homicide in minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No other nation on earth makes it legal for a
non-military, non-law enforcement individual to own an assault weapon. Its only
purpose is to kill multiple humans quickly. There is no other use for it,
either in hunting or self-protection, and never has been. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And don’t for a
minute get suckered by the N.R.A. argument that the founding fathers specified
in the Second Amendment that every U.S. citizen is entitled to “bear arms,”
meaning almost any arms. That baloney has persisted because no one ever read
the precious Second Amendment carefully and in the context of 1789 “arms.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Someday the Supreme
Court will rule rationally on the amendment and empower the Federal and/or State
legislatures to add assault weapons to the list of dangerous items that no
non-military, non-law enforcement person can use, own, or possess—an atomic
bomb, a machine gun, a 500-pound bomb, a flask of Sirin, or any other lethal
device capable of mass homicide in minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Senator Feinstein got
a ban on assault weapons through Congress in 1994. It never got challenged by
the Supreme Court: yet the Republicans refused to extend the ban in 2004.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With Trump in the
White House and Mitch McConnell running the Senate, there will be no ban on
assault weapons. So stay tuned for a lot more massacres and a bushel full of
thoughts and prayers in a semi-civilized, paranoid world . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Robert V. Wills </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9/2/19</span></div>
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</span></span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-69649393949070131082019-08-24T12:54:00.000-07:002019-08-24T12:54:39.403-07:00WYOMING: WHERE THE FEDS, THE WILLS, AND THE BUFFALO ROAM <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Wyoming:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where the Feds, the Wills, and the Buffalo Roam</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We were an invasion, of sorts—fifteen
members of one family bedding down in various high-end units at the Jackson Lake
Lodge in Wyoming.
The youngest was 16 months and the oldest 92. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All but Rob and I managed to hike miles
around nearby Jenny Lake, while some fished from a boat on Jackson Lake—unfortunately, no bites--and others
went river-rafting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evenings we
alternately filled the counters at the Pioneer Grill, or overflowed a Lodge barbecue,
or brought pizzas into our one large and elegant suite. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Over the years, Rob and I have spent
many vacation days at the Jackson Lake Lodge, though never with a group this large.
Thus we knew enough to reserve room 911, with its wrap-around windows and a
breathtaking view of the majestic Tetons. One glimpse of white-dotted Moran Peak
and its sister peaks made the rest of the view disappear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Still, it was moments with kids,
grandkids, and great-grandkids that turned the trip into something of a miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four-year-old Analise (from one family) tending
to 16-month-old Eva (from another.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Analise
seemed to feel it her duty to keep Eva entertained, which she did with chatter,
games, and mutual kisses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times
Analise ran errands for Rob and me, at the barbecue fetching napkins or glasses
of lemonade. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Moving up in age were eight-year-old
Corbin who valiantly tried to find fishing worms for Rob—(at a dollar a worm),
since worms are now outlawed in all local stores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He found only one, which eliminated Rob’s
hoped-for dam fishing. Thirteen-year-old Malena had many a report on her
twin-sister, Marley “She reads all the time but she has no memory, because she
turns around and reads the same book the next day,” seemingly unaware that both
of them are virtually straight-A students. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With adult grandkids Jamie, Dane, and
friend Zhanina, we played endless games of Boggle, and with public-defender
grandchild Christy, we did the impossible Saturday New York Times crossword.
(She and Rob mostly left me in the dust.) </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dane became a hero on the river raft
trip when, during the rapids, Lauren’s brand new hat flew off , and Dane saw
what happened and athletically snagged it out of the passing current.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tracy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
(and others), returned from several long hikes with tales of much-too-close
mother bears complete with cubs, and reports of stupid tourists who couldn’t
seem to follow the yelled instructions from several lady rangers; instead, they
did everything wrong. They approached when they shouldn’t, and took off running
when that merely incited the bears. Meanwhile, videographer Dane stood off to
one side and snapped photos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The other guys, Paul, Dan, and Mike, did lots of hauling of
food supplies, luggage, and whatever any of us needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I distinguished myself by reacting so
badly to the high altitude’s lack of oxygen that I nearly fainted, inspiring Tracy’s Paul to run for a
doctor, and return with a canister of oxygen. From then on, nurse Lauren
watched out for me, prescribing lots of water, slow walking, and multiple whiffs
of oxygen. I was okay sitting down, but sooner or later the day requires that
you do some walking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One night, Lauren’s Analise refused to
go to bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, as Lauren reported
back to us with a laugh, she screamed at her mother,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I hate you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hate you! I hope you get a sunburn. I hope it gets really red.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not going to tell you about the mother
moose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m not going to tell you
about the baby moose!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We realized that,
being only four, she’d quickly run out of insults.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later someone asked Marley, in the next door unit, if she’d heard
Analise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh yes,” Marley texted
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She was loud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really loud!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rob and I (now non hikers), instead
gathered interesting tales from some of the energetic food serving crew, and
one in particular, an older fellow named “Teak.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked him about his unusual name, and he
told us a story—how his mother had named him Tk,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and how, when first employed at the lodge,
the gate guard had asked, “What’s your real name?” and he said, “You’ve got my
passport, there it is.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up at the lodge,
he said, “I was pleased when I finally acquired a real name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They called me Tonly Konly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only later did I learn that the gate guard
had written, ‘T only, and k only.’”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that he re-named himself “Teak.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In further conversations Teak said, “You see
that clear plastic water glass you’re using? And the straw? In six months
they’ll both be dirt.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“How so?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“They’re plastic, both made of corn.
Totally biodegradable.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rob said, “Wait ‘til the world hears about
this.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our last day at lunch I quizzed the
handsome stranger sitting next to me at the food counter, and he admitted he
was the official photographer for the large, rather famous assemblage of Feds, due
to arrive the day after we left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
true to form, back home again, we saw many a shot of the world-famous men and
women, nicely assembled<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>outdoors in full
view of the magnificent Tetons. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Bob and I kept asking ourselves,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I wonder who later slept in our room . . . ”
as clearly someone from the Fed-group must have done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty logical. After all, we’d
occupied the best unit in the Lodge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-28231826084336982382019-08-09T14:50:00.000-07:002019-08-09T14:50:11.332-07:00THEY OPENED HIS HEART IN CLEVELAND <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">THEY
OPENED HIS HEART IN CLEVELAND</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Until a few months ago, neither Rob nor
I knew our son, Ken (living in Virginia),
had a heart murmur. Once we found out, events seemed to spiral forward at
ever-increasing speed. As Ken tells it, he happened to mention the problem to a
wealthy Norfolk
friend, Linda Kaufman, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and she called the
Cleveland Clinic (the nation’s premier center for heart issues) and, he said, “They called me back within five
minutes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It turns out Mrs. Kaufman’s husband had
had a heart transplant there, and either before or after, they donated so much
money to the hospital, that the “Heart Failure Clinic” is now named for
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to her connections, Ken soon
found himself speaking to Dr. Eric Roselli, the leading heart surgeon at the
clinic. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wanting to be there, Rob and I and
Ken’s youngest daughter, Juliette, decided to become his Cleveland support team. Meanwhile, Ken’s
Melanie had fractured her wrist a week earlier and back home she needed her own
surgery. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Events started with good news—two days
before Ken’s operation, a camera threaded through a tiny opening in Ken’s wrist
showed his coronary arteries to be clear . . . which augured well for his future,
suggesting he’ll never need a stent or bypass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The day before surgery, in a vast
family lounge, the four of us briefly met Dr. Roselli himself. In his late
forties, he was not only modest and charming, but so handsome I could imagine
his nurses having difficulty focusing on their jobs. In that encounter Dr.
Roselli told us he’d prefer keeping Ken’s own heart valve if possible, while
admitting with a smile that Ken would have to appear in the clinic at five a.m.
“while I’m still in bed,” he said. The procedure itself would begin at
seven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The next day, three of us met Dr.
Roselli again, this time in a private room. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was near one P.M., meaning the surgery had taken
over five hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It went well,” he
said. “We replaced six inches of his enlarged aorta with Dacron. The biggest
job was repairing the valve, because it was frayed around the edges and thin in
places and required lots of small sutures. But we got it done.” He smiled. “It
will now seat nicely over the aorta.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In passing, he noted that a fellow surgeon
had never seen such strong fascia as existed over Ken’s chest; they could
hardly cut through it. We assumed that came from all<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>those years of Ken’s swimming the
butterfly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since Kenny had earlier given him my
book, “Higher Than Eagles,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Roselli
admitted to having tried hang gliding briefly in Kitty
hawk, rising a few feet off the ground. Odd as it seemed in that
setting, we next discussed my terrifying flight as a tandem passenger with
Bobby, which seemed to fascinate him. We also discussed his three children,
ages 15, 13, and 10, with the ten-year-old boy asking occasionally, “Did you
save any lives today, Daddy?” By the end, we learned he was committed to two more
surgeries <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that day</i>, about which he
said ruefully, “One will be more complicated than your son’s.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Will you have lunch?” I asked,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and he said, “I’ll have some power bars. But
I do get a good dinner.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We three left
in wonder, knowing his day was only a third finished. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rob aptly described the magnificent
facility manned by marvelously capable nurses –and so much technical equipment
nobody could have counted all the machinery in just one room in I.C.U. Our
first view of Ken was reminiscent of the whole. Besides a surgical cap and
oxygen tubes in his nose, tubes and wires protruded from his neck, several from
his chest, and at least one each in both arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We could see a bit of the bandage—which started just below his chin. His
thumb rested on a button that delivered doses of fentanyl. “You can press it
whenever you want,” the nurses assured him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ken tried to speak to us, but while his
lips moved, the words were inaudible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working
around the gadgetry that squeezed his legs, I stood for awhile rubbing his
feet, right through the nubby surgical socks—a process to be repeated over
subsequent days. That night we didn’t stay long. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Each day, from then on, one or more
tubes were extracted, until at last he was able to ask for a cup of Starbucks coffee—and
actually drink it. (Probably a mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not much sleep that night).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout,
Kenny was a benign patient, brave and uncomplaining. He just lay quietly,
listening to music that flowed from a small device he’d brought with him. Meanwhile,
Juliette was the legs of the group, running frequent errands. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Four days after surgery, Ken’s heart
went into A-Fib, which frightened all of us, and especially Ken—but not the
concerned nurses, apparently, nor Chris, who said by phone, “That’s just a bump
in the road.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, having been in
A-Fib for ten hours, Ken’s heart resumed a normal rhythm. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By then we two were headed home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Two days later Ken was discharged from
the hospital to spend two more days in our hotel. From home I spoke to
Juliette, who admitted that his first day out they’d gone to an art museum. Rob
and I were amazed he’d been able to do it—even, as she explained, walking
slowly from room to room. Eventually the two boarded a plane for Norfolk, using a
wheelchair between planes. He arrived home exhausted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, a day later, he’s newly refreshed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As is predictable for Rob and me, we
had a couple of personal adventures. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
embarrassing was when the two of us were hurrying across the hotel lobby to
catch a departing elevator . . . a bit late, as the doors were already
closing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> T</span>o stop the process, Rob popped
his cane into the narrowing opening, expecting the impediment to make them re-open,
as usually happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Too late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of changing their mind,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the closing doors grabbed Rob’s cane, and he
was left holding one end of a cane, while the business end was clamped tight in
the outer elevator doors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there he
stood—with no upward ride and gripping the handle of a useless cane. A man came
to help extract his cane from the powerful doors—to no avail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then came another bruiser of a fellow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together, the two exerted all their strength,
and pried open the doors just enough to release Rob’s weapon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Soon afterwards, the elevator came back
down with a new load of passengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, the outer doors were now jimmied and wouldn’t open. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing the passengers were stuck, the manager
hurried over and assured them through a crack that help was on the way. While
we watched, horrified, various men spoke reassuring words to the trapped
individuals . . . while outside, a mechanic appeared with tools and worked
overhead, trying to get the doors to open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually, after much physical effort and lots of soothing talk, the
outer doors finally, slowly, retracted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With that, four people shot out of the
elevator as though ejected from a cannon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I suppose they thought the whole process might reverse and capture them
once more. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Surprisingly, that elevator remained
out of commission until several days after we’d left. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The other unusual event was not our
fault. The very large clinic area is served by numerous free—also frequent—shuttles.
But not, we learned, on weekends. On Sunday, after a long wait, we were told that
the day’s only shuttle had been in an accident and was out of commission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How will we get to the hospital?” Rob
asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The hotel’s concierge shrugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he brightened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll put you in a police car,” he said,
which only I heard. With that, he summoned a Cleveland Clinic Police sedan, and
the driver hopped out. While a surprised Rob climbed into the front, I had to
lower my head and enter the back—with its barred windows and protective shield
between me and the driver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until now I’d
never seen such a vehicle from the inside. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When
we exit</i>, I wondered,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Will we be taken for criminals?</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, it felt like an adventure. With our
arrival at the hospital, I couldn’t leave my seat--not until the policeman came
around to let me out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On our return
trip, it was Cop Car once more, and this time Rob rode in back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our trip to Cleveland was A to Z strange. Our second and
third nights we viewed the debates, only later noting there was never a
question about guns. Toward the end of our week came the horror of the El Paso killings--and the next morning we awoke in
disbelief to another massacre in Dayton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now home, today I read in further disbelief a statement from Trump—“There
is no political appetite for a ban on assault rifles.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The polls indicate the contrary.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Meanwhile,
in spare moments I’d been reading the final chapters of Michelle Obama’s
wonderful book, by coincidence finished as we arrived home. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her descriptions of the arduous, non-stop duties
faced by Barack—who read from a staff-prepared booklet every night until 1:00
or 2:00 a.m.--made me think, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All you
candidates for president should read this book. Most of you would quit. </i></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
side note—I’ve never met so many friendly
people as I encountered in Cleveland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With
that, I echo Rob’s observation that the private sector, with private funds, has
produced two of the world’s finest facilities—the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland
Clinic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-40872644492289999942019-07-25T09:51:00.000-07:002019-08-15T14:48:44.435-07:00MY BROTHER'S ROLE IN THE MOON LANDING <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My Brother's Role in the Moon Landing-- (re: Allan Klumpp)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Apollo 11: I’ve known for years that my
brother designed the path of flight from the mother ship (the Lunar Module) to
the moon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But only a week ago, a friend
perusing the internet found this account, written by Allan 25 years after the
event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maralys Wills
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<u>Apollo
11 Ignores Descent Guidance Faults, Lands Anyway</u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">During the
eleven minutes of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, several alarms appeared on the
display of the Lunar Module (LM). As each appeared, Buzz Aldrin, LM pilot,
immediately read it aloud for Neil Armstrong, LM commander, for the team of
Gene Kranz, flight director for the lunar descent in Houston,
and for the designers of the descent guidance, including myself, at MIT
Instrumentation Laboratory in Cambridge.
None of us had any idea what caused these alarms, whether the fault was minor
or a prelude to disaster. Nonetheless, Kranz directed Armstrong to press on
rather than opt for safety by aborting the descent and returning to the
orbiting Command Module (CM).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In ensuing
days, months, and years we found out what happened. The crew’s checklist called
for turning on rendezvous radar during descent; it could be needed if the
descent were to be aborted and the LM returned to the CM. But connections to
the radar were incomplete, failing to synchronize its power supply with others.
The radar’s power supply drifted in and out of phase. When out of phase, the
radar ate up about 15% of the guidance computer’s time; there was only an 8%
margin. Instrumentation Lab colleague Russ Larson now says that a
time-consuming command from the astronauts aggravated the problem. As a result,
the guidance computer was failing to finish its tasks, and it was complaining.
The explanation became complete only this year at the design team’s 25th
reunion at the lab, now renamed for its founder Charles Stark Draper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My part of the
official investigation showed that throttle and steering commands, which the
guidance computer was supposed to issue every two seconds, were often incompletely
computed, and were queued for later completion. Any attempt to queue a command
when the queue was already full (about five commands) would cause the computer
to flush the queue and issue the alarm. But when the radar’s power supply was
in phase, queued commands, valid only at some remote past time, could be
completed and issued in reverse order, momentarily taking control to guide the
LM off its normal landing trajectory. Although flushing commands would cause
alarms, issuing faulty commands would not. Simulations showed that faulty
commands could put the LM on a crash course, and guidance would attempt to take
the LM to the landing site via a trajectory that passed beneath the lunar
surface.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A day or so
before the reunion, the Boston Globe described an exchange between Larson and
other members of the support staff at Houston
as the alarms began. Not knowing what was happening, Jack Garman asked Larson
what to do. Larson signaled thumbs up, Garman relayed the recommendation to
Kranz, and Kranz directed Armstrong via Capsule Communicator Charlie Duke to
press on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At the reunion,
I talked to Russ, and he confirmed the story. I asked what made him think the
landing trajectory was safe, and he said his displays looked normal. I told him
my simulations showed a crash course would look normal until it was too late. I
asked why he had merely signaled thumbs up rather than giving his
recommendation verbally. He said he was too scared to speak.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(529 words) @ Allan R. Klumpp,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1994 </span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-69465776726340186502019-06-19T10:14:00.000-07:002019-06-19T10:24:52.748-07:00IS THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT FINALLY IN DANGER? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> By Robert V. Wills </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder how many Americans realize the
scope of Donald<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump’s growing control
of the American government, meaning all three branches of our political system.
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Constitution set up three branches of
the Federal government, relying on checks and balances between them to avoid a
dictatorship or imperial monarchy. The citizens elect both the Executive
leadership and the Legislative members, then the joint action of the Executive
and Legislature (Senate) appoints the Judiciary. The theory has always been
that the process would avoid dictatorship through the division of power.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect that Donald Trump is more of a
megalomaniac than a political strategist or a political historian - -all
reports are that he was a poor student - - but the American government is now
in a strange and ominous state: Trump rules the Executive Branch as an
autocrat, without guidance, counsel, or restriction. His appointments,
including all Department and Bureau heads, are all Trump lackies and devotees,
often devoid of experience or qualifications. They hold office only until they
disappoint or embarrass Donald. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now he literally controls the Senate
because his hillbilly toady, Mitch McConnell, will not allow a vote on any
measure that Trump doesn’t green light. And without the Senate, Congress is
nothing but a noisy, angry mob of biannual wannabees called Representatives, who
can rant, rail, and threaten impeachment - - but not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pass one law....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That leaves the Judiciary. Trump is no
lawyer, but he is directed by a cadre of ultraconservative advisers who are
helping him pack the Federal Courts with right wing ideologues - -who will hold
office FOR LIFE...Given enough time, like four more years, Trump will have
colored the Federal Judiciary a bright red, and the triad will be complete if
the Senate stays Republican.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not a political historian, either, but
I wonder if the U.S.
has ever been in this much danger of a dictatorship. Even FDR had no<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>luck in packing and controlling the
Judiciary. He was frustrated by the checks and balances, but he was not a
fanatical, dishonest megalomaniac who would run<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the American Ship of State right onto the rocks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blowhard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>rabble-rouser will, if kept in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the White House as
Tweeter-and-Commander-in-Chief for four more years. Pray to whichever God you
choose that he stumbles and falls by November, 2020.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(Amen. I couldn't agree more with Rob's thoughts. Maralys Wills) </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-34657274557329875052019-06-08T11:09:00.000-07:002019-06-08T11:11:01.788-07:00A "SMASHING" DINNER SHOW <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You never know when an ordinary evening will
become an unplanned adventure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As Rob and I and our son, Kirk, headed
for a fish dinner at H-Salt, the weirdness of the evening came to us by
degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as we turned into the
small street that led to the equally small restaurant,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we saw the fire engine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A huge vehicle, it seemed to take up most of
the tiny parking area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we saw
the cop car, parked in the handicap spot we normally call ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As Rob steered past and around the fire
engine,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the yellow tape came into view.
And suddenly there was the rest . . . our nice fish and chips shop with its
front plate-glass<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>window gone, and the
building’s front wall severely bashed and leaning precariously inward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Police tape and shattered glass led toward
the interior, a different version of the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yellow
Brick Road. Among the mess stood cops and
firemen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
. . . <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">there’s no dinner here tonight</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>at which Rob called out to a policeman,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Are they open?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yeah, they’re open,” said the cop, a decent
fellow acting as a good citizen for an ailing business. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From the back seat, Kirk added
laconically,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wide</i> open.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I couldn’t help it; I burst out
laughing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As we emerged from the car, we asked,
“What happened?” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A nearby fireman answered. “A woman hit
the accelerator instead of the brake.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“She okay?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He pointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She’s sitting inside. Pretty much all
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the car isn’t that bad. It’s
the restaurant that took the hit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With some trepidation, we entered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the area in front of the cash register
was out of commission, with its carpet of shattered glass walled off by yellow
tape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, the Chinese owners had
managed to do their work behind the melee, taking our order from a different counter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was time to find our table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in our path was an ancient woman sitting
on a chair,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>head down, staring blankly
at the floor . . . while nearby, looking years younger, was her four-wheel
walker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The woman herself seemed to be in
her eighties. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> As we parked at an undisturbed table
off to one side and ate our usual crispy fish and zucchini, we were treated to
an interesting scene: what happens after someone bashes in the front of a going
business. We recalled that customers often waited for their orders by sitting
in metal chairs backed up to that now-destroyed wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They’d have had some serious spinal injuries,”
Rob said, “knocked off their chairs and across the room.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew he was thinking, like I was, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thank God no one was there this evening.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For starters,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the original fire truck departed, and
another,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>double the size, parked in the
nearby alley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some two dozen firemen (or
so it seemed),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>emerged, carrying tools,
lumber, nails and saws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they were
setting up, the luckless woman driver managed to stand and wheel her way out of
the restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“How will she get home?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered aloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Will they give her<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>back her car?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“If they do,” Kirk said dryly,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“she’ll be right back inside.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An observation that sent me into another
round of laughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without Kirk, the
adventure would have lacked a certain crucial element. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For the rest of dinner we watched the
noble employees of the town of Orange
performing at their noble best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
swept up glass; they removed twisted chairs; they installed an<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ingenious brace to hold up an ailing ceiling;
they constructed a device from which the owners could seal off their business
during the night. They went about their job with industry,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>experience, and obvious good will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the firemen even came to our table and
explained what was going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We do this
all the time,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he said, and it was clear
he spoke the truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We had to pull a
metal chair out from under the car’s hood.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Why didn’t those little parking-lot
bumpers out front stop her?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked. I
was thinking, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They’re cement. They’ve
stopped me a few times.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rob said, “Looks like she ran over two
of them—one for each wheel.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“For some cars, those bumpers are just
a reminder,” he said. “We’ve seen drunk drivers in a parking lot bounce over
eight or nine of those things in a row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’d think after awhile they’d notice.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Once finished, Kirk went outside, where
he and the helpful fireman stood by our car, talking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Rob and I got in, the man signaled that
Rob was to roll down the window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Come
back next week,” he said,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“we’ll try to
have twice the show.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With that, Kirk said,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll never forget this one.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-47554029111883153752019-05-24T16:26:00.000-07:002019-05-24T16:30:30.476-07:00PELOSI MAY BE GETTING THE JOB DONE <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PELOSI
MAY BE GETTING THE JOB DONE</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In a way that nobody has done before, Nancy Pelosi is getting
under our president’s skin . . . </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While she remains calm and poised and
describes him in accurate terms, he twitters and rages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But it isn’t just Pelosi that’s got him
jumping off the high board—it’s also those <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inquiries from the House of Representatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to ask ourselves, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What is he hiding</i>—besides those eight
years when, according to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York
Times,</i> he “lost” over one billion dollars and paid no taxes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Trump’s reactions are turning increasingly
abnormal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Instead of Wednesday’s White House
meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi over a possible bill on infrastructure,
the president entered the room for five minutes, never sat down, and declared,
“I won’t talk about legislation while an inquiry is going on.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he called an “impromptu” press
conference, his podium signs were already made. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yesterday he called Rex Tillerson<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(past CEO of ExxonMobil, past Secretary of
State—who speaks both English and Russian),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Dumb as a Rock.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems
Tillerson<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gave some 8 hours of
testimony—to whom, I’m<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the midst of all this, yesterday Trump
called himself “A stable genius.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Really? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As his breakdown gets worse, the
tweets will get crazier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it
possible we’re about to get lucky . . . that we’re seeing the beginning of the end
of his presidency?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-39373303899977264432019-05-13T10:01:00.002-07:002019-05-13T10:03:38.669-07:00HOW TRUMP IS INFLICTING MORTAL WOUNDS ON BLUE AMERICA <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By Robert V. Wills </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Democrats breathed a big sigh of
relief when they took<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>over the House of
Representatives in November. Whew! Now they could stop Trump in his tracks by
controlling the Federal purse strings and blocking his legislative agenda.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nice try. But no cigar. Trump isn’t trashing the Obama legacy and the
liberal agenda through legislation. He’s doing it by two other strategies, by
Executive Orders aimed at Federal agencies that control society and the
environment, and by packing the Federal courts, which make or break laws that
Congress is supposed to be passing, or passed years ago.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While the Democrats in the House create endless publicity by holding
hearings and issuing subpoenas, Trump’s Executive Orders have quietly
directed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all of the important agencies
that control the environment, consumer protection, the airwaves, education,
voting rights, health, and commerce in a direction 180 degrees from what Obama
established and what Blue America campaigns for.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Federal courts are jammed with litigation filed by social,
political, and environmental organizations like the ACLU, Common Cause, Public
Citizen, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Planned
Parenthood. Injunctions and Court Orders have slowed some of the Trump onslaught,
but not all of it, and the litigation will go on for years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But Trump and his right wing advisers know that the buck stops in the
Federal courts, not the House of Representatives, so with a Trump-aligned
Senate and some ultraconservative lawyers at his side, he is quietly
packing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Federal Courts with lifelong
appointments of right wing ideologues who will shape our social and political
landscape for decades, while members of Congress come and go like hucksters in
endless campaigning.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Everyone knows that Trump has already had a powerful influence on the
U.S. Supreme Court, with two right wing appointments to join Bush’s two (Alito
and Roberts), and that the Court’s future temperament depends on the longevity
of “Notorious Ginsberg.” But what the public doesn’t know is that while SCOTUS
is the ultimate authority on Federal law, the real seat of Federal law power
rests in the 13 Federal Courts of Appeal, where + or – 179 appellate judges
decide something like 50,000 cases a year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Federal Courts of Appeal are essentially the real U.S. “Supreme”
Federal Court because SCOTUS reviews only + or – 140 cases each year and takes
on only cases where the Courts of Appeal had conflicting decisions, or the
issue is critical.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In two years Trump has already appointed more than 20% of the + or – 179
Circuit Judges. I just read a summary of some of their decisions and the Trump
judges have already demonstrated a sharp right lean in their written opinions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If Trump remains in office two more years - - a big “if” with his
mental<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>state - - his effect on the
Federal judiciary - - and the U.S.
political and social temperament - - will last half a lifetime. In fact, in
another two years I don’t think I will even recognize the America that
won WWII and resettled a war-torn world under leaders like Eisenhower and
Kennedy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-31714906798206479292019-04-29T14:11:00.000-07:002019-04-29T14:11:23.738-07:00TO HUG OR NOT TO HUG <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">TO
HUG OR NOT TO HUG . . . </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That is the question. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today you’ll never get an answer just
by “hanging around and watching.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or reading
the news. It’s more complicated than that. Poor
old Biden . . . he’s in a mess he doesn’t quite understand. But does anybody? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Acceptability of hugging depends on a
bunch of things—your age, your gender, and the age and gender of the
hugee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you happen to be a great
grandfather, you are definitely not a hugger, especially of other males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead you stick out your hand. I’ve never
seen Rob hug a same-age guy . . . and only with an embarrassed grin does he
accept the hugs of his grandsons. Yet he thinks nothing of grabbing the arm of
an attractive young female.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I admit it—I’m a hugger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so are most of my women friends – but not
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s up to me to discern who among
them is or is not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also happy to hug
long-friend males, of whatever age, but they have to extend their arms
first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love it that my sons and
grandsons are also huggers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From them,
in fact, I get more such arms-out affection, by far, than I do from my husband.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s today’s brand-new rule:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>young males hug each other, as I just
observed at a large, twenty-somethings birthday party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The male host hugged every one of his
arriving male friends . . . but not necessarily the females. Frankly, I’m not
sure about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> rule—young male to
girl-friend of other young male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, so I don’t have a “fix” on all
the rules. But if you want to see part of today’s answer to who’s allowed to hug
whom, it’s on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general, like the French, we’ve become more
of a hugging and air-kissing society. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Except when we haven’t . . . except
when the # Me Too is operating and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nobody</i>
is allowed in our space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246990968709504006.post-17668306084958114642019-04-05T14:02:00.000-07:002019-04-05T16:56:22.859-07:00OUR BUCKING BRONCO CRUISE <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">OUR
BUCKING BRONCO CRUISE </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rob and I signed up for a cruise, not a
rodeo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We supposed we could walk across
our living room in Oceania’s Vista Suite without
lurching from doorway to chair to table . . . without staggering from bed to
bathroom . . . without leaning heavily into the sink as we brushed our teeth .
. . without gripping the closet door in a kind of spasm as we lifted out a pair
of slacks. We quickly learned you dared not pull off a long-sleeved shirt
without sitting down first. Four seconds standing up with both hands buried in
sleeves could spell disaster. The same sounds kept bursting out of each of us .
. . “Oh!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh!” or in Rob’s case, an
additional, “Damn! Son of a Bitch!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mom,” said daughter Tracy
on the third day, “your place is making me seasick.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, that’s what we got for signing up
for the luxurious Vista Suite at the prow end of the ship, with its well-appointed
living room and gracious veranda adorned with table and chairs. Rob sat out
there once, in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a hurricane, clinging desperately
to the paper he was trying to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From
that day on the chairs and table were secured with rope tied to the ship’s rails,
and nobody ever sat there again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Still, the nineteen days on the Oceania cruise had plenty of positive events, and even some
great moments. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trip was Tracy’s 60<sup>th</sup> birthday
gift, and included her Paul, plus son Chris and Betty-Jo and son Kenny and
Melanie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the eight of us all
convened for some lunches and each night for dinner, in between everybody did
his own thing: among us we read some nine books and about thirty newspapers.
The exercise aficionados worked out in the gym on treadmills and stationery bikes,
or hiked the perimeter of the ship—when it wasn’t dipping and curtseying like,
um. . . the Mayflower. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The itinerary included on-shore events
relished by most of our gang: electric bicycles on which they traversed most of
an island, stopping only for swims and a luxury luncheon; an ATV mud-ride, so
exhilarating they couldn’t stop raving. And, more modestly for Rob and me,
island explorations by car, glass-bottomed boats, and by a submersion submarine.
Even our Tahiti hotel included a “Lagoonarium,”
where we swam in the lagoon with hundreds of tropical fish—more than most of us
had ever seen in one place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Back on ship, Ken and Tracy competed
with each other in spectacular games of ping pong—with shots retrieved from the
far edges of the table or occasionally missed altogether when the ball soared
away in the wind. A number of points involved so many incredible saves that Rob
and I were breathless, just watching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every game worked its way to a near-end tie, and eventually the two played
some twenty-plus games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Meanwhile, other family members
competed in shuffleboard or card games like Golf, or that ancient game of cards
and pegs, Cribbage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Oceania
Regatta had some great special days . . . a carnival where the passengers
competed on deck for prizes in such events as speed-dressing mannequins,
sniffing and identifying various containers of different smelly items, tossing
rings over bottles, maneuvering sticks into other bottles, and identifying
geographic locations from maps. The morning event became a circus, with
contestants racing around from one event to another. Eventually, the hardest-driving
among them ended up with fistfuls of tickets whose numbers were drawn for
decent prizes. Rob and I got there late—but just in time to see that, as always,
the name Wills has a secret meaning (“mad competitor”), so of course our gang
won some nice stuff. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Which brings me to Rob, Kenny, and me .
. . and “Team Trivia.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within two days
we’d become part of an eight-person team, “The Fun Bunch,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and every afternoon at 4:30, rock and roll be
damned, Rob and I and Kenny appeared in the Regatta lounge to probe our brains
for answers to 20 assorted questions. Happily, we’d joined some smart people,
including Marshall and wife Lucy, who seemed to know something about nearly
everything. Thanks to Marshall,
Lucy, Kenny, and Rob . . . and scattered answers from the rest of us. . . among
the fifteen or more teams, we ended up in third place three times and first
place twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(You’re bound to do well
with such as these--two fact-driven lawyers, a theater aficionado, and an
engineer.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The rest of the cruise was all food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huge breakfasts, plentiful (and delicious),
choices for lunch, gargantuan dinners. For Rob and me—especially me--accustomed
now to two meals a day, the food became a negative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simply couldn’t respond well when my dinner
plate (usually in a specialty restaurant), or even someone else’s plate, overflowed
with a slab of nearly-raw meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept
trying to duck all that surplus eating, though I was too often swept away—and
on to stomach aches. Reading
this, other family members will respond with a boo/hiss, telling me the food
was fantastic and nobody forced me to swallow any of it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Okay, then: agreed that Oceania has great food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everyone but me and Paul
(who exercised faithfully), came home with extra pounds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My weight stayed the same, but it took several
days to get over the stomach aches. At heart I must not be a cruiser. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The exceptional good news: given a
gazillion balance-rattling jostles, neither Rob nor I ever fell down . . . and
our suite was so far from everywhere (all dining rooms were on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the stern, a city block away), we did a lot
of walking. We had a cheerful butler who brought us whatever we
required—breakfast in the suite or canapés for the cocktail hour. Beyond him
were waiters and servers in the dining rooms from every imaginable country, but
with one thing in common—all were so much fun and so gracious, a number quickly
became family friends. Rob<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I already
miss them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Plus it was great being with all those
fun and funny family members. Our late-afternoon cocktail parties in our ever-heaving
suite were highlights of the trip. Also highlights were about six other couples
who became good friends and sometimes joined us for canapés and drinks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The final highlight was arriving home
to a house that was actually standing still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Maralys Willshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188640537626785139noreply@blogger.com0