Buffalo Gal

The past three days have been hard on me, news-wise.  Some of today’s front page stories in the FORUM were particularly upsetting and all the stories have to do with children.

For starters there is the report of the charges against a pair of Valley City people who caused the death of a baby….due to starvation and dehydration.  I could barely stand to read this horror story.  A  26-year old father and his shack-up 18 year old "girlfriend " are charged with the baby’s death.  The mother of the baby testified in court… but I am left wondering about her as well as the monsters who let this baby die from not feeding him or giving him liquids?  There is a color picture of the mother pontificating on the steps of the court building ;  she had maintained that the baby was given to the father due to her being treated for a "stress disorder".  Pardon me, but she did not look very stressed out in talking about the death of her infant.  She looked more like she was enjoying the media attention.    I have a very difficult time processing what is going on in our present day society….careless and non-caring people give birth to babies and do not take care of them.  Parents are charged with violently killing their own flesh and blood by shaking, hitting, suffocating, drowning…..the list goes on.  What kind of people are we turning into?

Then there is the story a day or so ago about the "40 Days" of fasting and prayer in trying yet again to stop the Holocaust of abortion in this nation.   What sort of falsehood are being perpetrated upon those who allow thier already growing infants to be destroyed in an abortion?     What have we wrought in making this legal by the Roe V. Wade decision of 1973 (?)   Many of the same people who carry on and squawk about the deaths in Iraq of American military men and women are the same people who think nothing of putting unborn babies to death at a rate of 71,037 abortion deaths in Minnesota in 2005 and 8352 abortion deaths in North Dakota in 2005.  And these Liberal-thinkers howl about 4000 military deaths?  There is a horrible disconnect somewhere and there is going to be a horrible price to pay, nationally, one day future.  I am, in no way, diminishing the deaths in Iraq and other war torn areas….Kosovo, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, WW 2…..but to think nothing of…. and actually support the so-called legal abortions(murders) in the USA for decades…is beyond my comprehension.  What has happened to our sense of morals and ethics?  What kind of monster "1984" society have we become???

The third news story that has upset me more than I can handle is the charge against a 15 year old brother for the murder of his 16 year old sister last summer.  The details that have been revealed about the circumstances of her death are unbearable.  I cannot even imagine how this family is, and has been, suffering since the death of Whitney Paige Carlson.  The loneliness of the brother charged with her murder and the fact that he is being kept in confinement probably til the trial is also hard to bear.  What twisted sort of mentality is involved in this horrible murder of a sister???

Just reading those news stories in the past two days makes me think that our society continues to sink farther  into dark, desperate, evil times of despair and mayhem.  It becomes very difficult to think positively on a day like today when we have had these horrors poured out on us like some poisonous dregs…. in our lown local area.  This does not even take into account the similar news coming from other parts of this nation.

Lord, how have you put up with our treacheries and evil deeds this long?  

It is always a hard thing to say "good-bye" to a good friend when that friend passes from this life into Eternity.  We had to say that "goodbye " this week when one of our good friends left her earthly life on Sepember 20.  She had lived for 8 decades and had been thankful every day of those 80 plus years.

She was loved by so many….yesterday afternoon, her many family members and many of the friends who loved her attended her funeral, which was really more of a celebration of her life and her legacy.  That was a singular statement in her obituary…."She leaves a legacy of Christian faith to everyone who knew her."     We are so happy that we had the opportunity to know her for nearly 20 years.

She was the most hospitable woman I have ever known.  One of her "ministries" was making her famous lefse for everyone she knew!   She made it year-round and she made it often. If you visited her at home, you always got fresh lefse with the coffee and other refreshments.   Her cooking and baking was notable…..her family enjoyed years and years of good cooking and baking and she shared her hospitality with everyone she knew. 

 She was not an assertive woman, as we think of assertive women nowadays.  She was born on Norway’s rugged west coast near Bergen where she lived the first two decades of her life.  During World War 2 she met an American soldier from a small farming community in North Dakota.  The meeting led to a sweet romance that culminated in their wedding in Norway in 1947.  She left her homeland and became a devoted and hard-working famer’s wife on the flat prairies of eastern North Dakota.  She bore and raised 6 children on that farm; she survived the death of her husband at a fairly young age.   She did re-marry when her children were grown up and also endured his death  a decade later.   Fortunately, for us, we got to know her when she moved away from the farm and came to the city to live near two of her sons. 

One of the really good memories I will always treasure is of a simple thing we did…..she taught a lot of us other women in our church fellowship how to make her "famous lefse". We were stunned when it only had two ingredients….cooked potatoes and flour in equal amounts!  She also said it didn’t make any difference what kind of potatoes you used…blowing up my mother’s theory that you should only use white russets for making lefse!  We stirred together the cold mashed potatoes (not riced) and flour and make our small balls to roll out.  The trick in getting really soft lefse was that the minute it came off the grill, we had to "wash it" in a cake pan of water!  That was how the lefse turned out so nice and soft.  It was a recipe that had been used in Norway during the lean war years when food was hard to come by….it was called "potato cake" and it was the food staple for families all over the nation occupied from April 1940 til the wars’ end.  In the process of baking our lefse in the church basement, we blew a lot of fuses on an old system that would not handle so many lefse grills at once.  Our pastor was kept hopping to replace fuses all evening!  But we all went home with that delicious "mystery" lefse which we were taught to make by our dear friend.

Another time I treasure in my heart was having "vaffles" at her home.  She spoke English well but some English letters like the "w" and the "j" defeated her and it made for wonderfully interesting conversations.  She translated many things for us…from  Norwegian to English and we have a  Christmas song translated for our family….a song that was brought my my husband’s grandparents from Norway in the early 1900s but we had not known the meaning of it….we just sang it in Norwegian each Christmas Eve as we held hands and circled the Christmas tree together.  Now we have our translation and know what that sweet song means in English.

Mu husband entertained her often with his attempts to talk Norwegian to her…often with hilarious results like the time he said in Norwegian that it was a good day today (or so he thought).  She burst into her characteristic laughter and told him he had just told her he "was pretty today".  That was only one of the many times that she laughed at his "Norwegian-speaking" to her….a native who knew the language so well.

The last time we saw her she was getting very weak and rued the fact that she couldn’t make us any coffee and she didn’t have any lefse made.  It brought tears to my eyes to see her more concerned for us than for herself…she knew she was dying but she was such a servant that she thought of others to the very end.   Her son told us that her "going home" was peaceful and easy in spite of wide-spread cancer.  It was a blessing for a wonderful woman who had served others for her whole life to go easily into Eternity from our never-easy earthly lives.

I am selfish and will miss her so much but I am able to be thankful that she is truly "at home" and is no longer suffering the "veil of tears" we all endure…. even when we don’t think we are enduring it.   Her life well-lived will be an enduring lesson for all of us who will never forget her.

Just this past Wednesday my youngest son’s wife (and our dear "daughter") wrote her montly opinion piece for the St Cloud Times Writers’ Group.  She is a most articulate and talented writer —-in addition to being a marvelous wife and mother who homeschools their two children most excellently.  (both kids are reading about 4-5 grade levels above their true grade level…I cannot resist telling that…I am so happy about their educational progress).

My daughter in law’s essay was an emotional one that was not easy for her to write and it was a hard one for me to read because it brought back, after more than 4 decades, a family tragedy that occured in the skies over southeast Asia.

Her writing was triggered by their family’s visit to the "Moving Wall" monument (Vietnam War Memorial) at the Veterans’ Center in St Cloud.  She described how they drove into the Veterans’ Center grounds at dusk and drove through a driveway lined with American flags. All 4 of them became very hushed as they approached the "Moving Wall".                    

 On that wall—- and also on the permanent wall in Washington DC—- there is a panel from 1962 with the name of the first Minnesotan who gave his life in what we came to know as the War in Vietnam.  In February, 1962, 3 air force planes, piloted by Air Force veteran pilots were spraying defoliant on the jungles in one area of Southeast Asia (Laos or Vietnam….on the border between the two contries, I think).  The first plane that went down to spray the chemical was piloted by Robert D. Larson, fondly known by his best friends as "Bobby D".  His plane was hit by unexpected ground fire and went down in flames killing all 3  men aboard the big plane.  This left Bobby D’s wife a widow and also their 3 small children, fatherless. Our family did not receive word of Bobby’s death immediately.  The involvement of the US military at that time was a closely- kept secret but when his body was returned for burial, his wife was told where he died and how he died.  Our whole family was not only shocked at losing the youngest member of my mother in law’s family but we were shocked by the news of his death over Vietnam/Laos.

On September 26, 1992, the Minnesota Vietnam Memorial was dedicated on the grounds of the State Capitol in St. Paul.  Bobby D’s surviving brothers and sister attended that ceremony as well as his youngest child, John, who was in his early 30′s by that time.  It was a highly moving tribute to the men and women who died in Vietnam when, after the dedication ceremony, the famiies of the dead were all given a chance to come to the microphone and speak about their loved one.   Even after more than 30 years, the family members who spoke, many of them carrying a photo of their loved one, were unable to finish their words….many broke down into weeping and could not go on.  John Larson spoke eloquently about the father he never really knew…he was still a baby when his Dad died in 1962.

Bobby D’s mother, the lady we called "Gramma Anna" did not live to see this Minnesota Memorial on which her youngest son’s name was the first one recorded.  Sometime in the early 1970s she did have the pleasure of having Bobby’s 3 children come to North Dakota for a long visit in the summertime.  That summer was a highlight for Gramma Anna.  Her son Bobby and her had spent many years together, alone, after Bobby’s father and her husband died when Bobby was only about 6 years old.  Mother and son were extremely close; Anna was so proud of her youngest son, who was an outstanding athlete at Oak Grove and a student at Augsburg College before he enlisted in the Air Force as a patriotic young man.  He was eager to serve his country as his older brothers had done in  World War 2.

He was the family member who paid the ultimate price.  His two brothers…one who survived over 50 bombing missions as a P-47 pilot over Germany….both returned safely after World War 2.        It was the most heart- wrenching time in out family’s life after we got the news of Bobby D’s death in the winter of 1962. 

The following fall, all of us would wait fearfully while the U.S. challenged Soviet Russia over the placement of ICBMs in Cuba.  Who of us who went through that October of 1962 crisis will ever forget the fear of nuclear war breaking out between the U.S. and the Soviet Union???    I remember holding our 4- month old son and wondering what would happen if the Soviets attacked the air base at Spokane Washington,  which was only about 50 miles from where we then lived.   

1962 was also the year John Glenn orbited the earth 3 times in the earliest manned spacecraft.  It was a memorable and painful year for all of us in our extended family.

In the late spring of about 2002, I turned to my good friend and said, "We’re going to organize a chapter of Red Hatters…I am going to be the Queen Mum and what do you want to be?"  (I had been advised by the QM of them all…Queen Arlene of the Red Hat Mamas to do it this way)    My good friend said she would like to be the Court Jester so it was a done deal.  We put an ad in a local paper (DL) and asked anyone who wanted to become a Red Hatter to show up for lunch at the Holiday Inn on a certain day.  The day came and about 30 other women showed up.  We chose a name for our group, told the women to find a Royal Title for themselves and we were off and running.  We had The Duchess of Dazzle, the Hysterian (she screamed for all of us if we got frustrated)  the Count-essa (our treaurer) and a few other good Royal Titles that came out of the blue and out of our fertile imaginations.    Few of us knew each other but we made a pact to begin running with the Red Hats from then on and do what Red Hatters do best….women over age 50 having fun with other women over 50.   It has been a great ride and we have had many memorble moments together, first of all getting to know each other and make lots of new friends and then go on some really crazy outings together.  We have been to old Victorian homes for High Teas (New York Mills) ….to Dorset MN for fun in a really small town….to Summerhill Farm….we have had Slumber Parties (yes wearing our ‘jammies in the middle of the day…cannot do an overnight, we’d get too worn out) ….  we have had Halloween costume parties at which one of our "girls" came as a bunch of grapes (purple balloons stuck on to her entire body).  The only thing we have not done so far that I really wanted to do was to go to the Grape Stomp at Carlos Winery in mid September each year.  I have not been able to convince enough to do it and we are getting older so maybe it is not in the cards for us.

Today I went to "A Queen’s Luncheon" at the home of Queen Arlene (previously mentioned as the QM to beat all QMs)  We had a grand time; everyone brought a salad and someone brought the most delicious, chewy, chocolatey brownies ever and we had great fun  eating, talking and comparing notes about things to do with our own groups.

About a year ago I told my "girls" that I had gone to the well once to often and I was getting burned out.  I had done it all and nobody offered to help so it did not last like I thought it would, for me anyway……still no volunteers, but we still meet for breakfast each month and enjoy each other’s company.  It has been a wonderful experiment as most of the RH groups I have known are made up of women who have known each other for years.  Ours was truly a "new group" of friends that had not met each other til Red Hats brought us together.  It has been a great way to meet new people and enjoy a lot of fun with each other over the past five years…in spite of my "burn-out".

I am feeling more inspired after today’s Queens Lunch with other enthusiasts.

The daily newspaper has kind of let the pit bull problem in Moorhead go after the dog was euthanized this week after the owner could not raise the insurance necessary to keep the dog.  Opinions are still flying on the "talk about it" section of the online FORUM.

I did not have time to read all of them but there are about 6-7 pages of differing opinions on keeping that breed of dog as a "pet" inside the city’s neighborhoods.   Many of the Opiners take the side of the pet owner and the dog saying it wasn’t the dog’s fault that someone came on "it’s" property (I was totally unaware that dogs are property owners).  Others blamed children or adults for approaching a dog and trying to pet it. (I agree it is very foolhardy to try to pet a dog one does not know)   Many simply said that killing a pet should never be done no matter what that pet does. (Hmmmm)

The most compelling opinion that I appreciated was that of "Jack Daniels" on a September 18 post on page 4 of the 6 pages of posts.  JD said this (partial quote)   "She (owner) didn’t keep the dog kenneled, control her(dog) or train her. That’s the owner’s fault. An act of omission is the owner’s negligence…not the community’s fault…..she(owner) did nothing correct to prevent the dog from becoming a dangerous {one}….she didn’t get the dog trained or find a new home or watch the dog better after the first event…"

Some others that seemed a lot more "brainless" to me was a terse one-liner:  "Kill ‘em all" and the other was a whine saying "I think it is a shame the dog had to be put down….the owner said her kids cuddled with "Priness" {sic}. how could she trust her children with him{sic} if he was so mean?"            Duh!

One thing I think needs to be learned and kept in mind by anyone who wants to bring a pet dog into their home:  You better know the breed’s characteristics before you buy the dog. Pit bulls have been bred to be vicious fighters and protectors.  So have Doberman Pincers and German Shepherds…..two breeds which are mostly un-insurable in the U.S.  A well trained German Shepherd can be used as a service dog….but the key is "well trained". Golden Retrievers, German Shorthairs, and Springer Spaniels have been bred to find and retrieve game birds.  Dachsunds were originally bred to be "badger dogs"…to hunt badgers and go down the badger holes and bring them out and break their necks by shaking them violently.   Border Collies and Blue Heelers are bred to round up sheep and other livestock.

Our family has perfect examples of how strong in-bred instincts are.  We had a Border Collie, who at the age of 8 weeks got down into the Border Collie "crouch" when he saw our few sheep the day we brought him home.  He continued his rounding-up behavior for the rest of his long life (15 years) by "herding" and "rounding" me every time I walked out to get the mail.  His intense stare and quivering crouch were sure signs I would get "rounded" and nipped lightly on my lower legs by our faithful "Mac".  Our first "grand-dogger", an enthusiastic Springer named Trudi, was an insatiable retriever of old tennis balls and would continue to retrieve them til she collapsed from exhaustion after putting her entire head underwater in a bucket to drink thirstily.   Our Dachsund granddog Jobie enthusiastically dug up every gopher hole he could find in pursuit of a badger.  Anytime we played with him and offered him and old towel or rug to tug on, he would "kill" it by shaking it violently.  Our Bailey, a female Beagle follows scents and trails and bays loudly when she is on the hunt.  These family pets all displayed the very traits that had been bred into them by long years of patient breeders selecting the traits they wanted to foster.   Pit bulls were bred to be attack dogs….how can anyone say that a Pit Bull will not attack or kill???   It is what they were bred to do and people foolishly call them their "pets".   I cannot understand why anyone who lives in a crowded neighborhood would even want a Pit Bull in the first place. If you want a pet, get a gentle Golden Retriever if you have to have a big dog.

The entire hoo-hah about this incident in Moorhead has been overblown.  Apparently nothing was learned from the episode of the tame ducks in Barnesville.

Today I am all over the place with some observations about current events and other stuff…truly meeting the definition of a "gadfly".

Buffaloguy got me going by his observations about the morning programs on ABC/NBC/CBS all of which used to seem like morning news programs.  Now they hurry through what little "news" they happen to choose, usually news that fits their liberal agendas and then hurry on to the "real stuff" that apparently shallow Americans want to hear…..what is happening to OJ Simpson as he sits in his Las Vegas cell and what is everyone from his "friends" to the local dogcatcher opining about his situation?  Any interviewee will do if they have new "information" about OJ.    Which Hollywood "starlet" (Brittney Spears and others of her ilk) has been impregnated by some Hollywood Tomcat?  Who is in treatment for 1. alcohol  2. meth  3. cocaine  4. all of the above???   What modern musical group will be performing 1. on the roof  2. on the street  3. in the studio  today???     Morning shows….bah humbug!!!

I am wondering what is going on at UND with the "leave" being taken by their athletic director? 

I am also wondering about the current trend in public schools (notably several schools in Fargo) to emphasize "public service" so heavily.   While this is not harmful….it is even very beneficial for young students to learn such things….I do wonder if the increasing emphasis on service outside of the school setting will cause students to miss out on basic math, language arts and writing and spelling skills they so badly need.   When I was still in a public school system I was somewhat disturbed by elementary students being herded like sheep through the halls much of the day in order to attend classes in a foreign language, computer skills, counseling classes—  plus the daily treks to the gym and music room.  It especially disturbed me when primary teachers (and the others) complained of not having enough time for instruction in reading, math, spelling, writing, and science.  There is only so much time available in a public school day for the basic subjects and all the extras took valuable time away from that crucial instruction.  It seems typical of the current batch of "leaders" in   state and national education circles to give lip service to the need for the basic skills elementary children should be getting but emphasizing all the "extras" including public service assignments.  NEA’s latest attempt to get "gay education" into public school curriculum really disturbs me. Young children need to get educated but I firmly believe that such social agendas are inappropriate in elementary schools. We could also start Bible studies during the school days and watch the public go bonkers over such an "extra"…but I think either extra "educational" agenda is ridiculous in a public school setting.                     I think if I were still in the public school system I would be even more disturbed by the goings-on now.   These extras should be done after school hours are over. We could do well to follow the European model (and all the rest of the world) by keeping school for academics and relegating all the "extras" to after school hours and evenings.  Our kids would be able to write legibly and intelligently, perhaps they would read a lot more and they would not be stymied by math problems and might even be able to find Wisconsin on a map.

That is one thing I truly admire about conscientious home schoolers….their time is devoted to academic subjects first and foremost (my personal observations based on two home schooled familes I know well).   These same children are also provided with opportunities after their school day is completed, to participate in sports and music activities.  They do not fit the pattern of critics of home schooling who say that such students are "isolated" and do not get "social interaction".   I was never very impressed with the "social interaction" that occurred on our public school playground…especially for some of the timid and innocent kids who encountered bullies, the worst language and outright swearing possible and other truly negative "social interactions".  

On a lighter note, the "gadfly" is having a belated birthday party for her Princess KItty tomorrow with her good friend Fran, who is also an animal lover.   Kitty is 9 years old now;  she gets along well after suffering the loss of her right shoulder and leg thanks to some Dumbo with a gun last November who apparently thinks shooting at cats is really a great way to entertain oneself.  One thing I have learned from that ugly episode:  there are wonderful veterinary surgeons and vet clinic assistants and animals do not need any formal re-hab like humans do.  Pets are amazing in their recovery from serious injuries and the compensations they make instantly to the loss of a leg .

The little "Hytte" is also getting "christened" tomorrow with a "birthday tea party" complete with home-made cake (raspberry-laced vanilla cake, a recipe off the back of a Softasilk cake flour box)   It is finally cool enough during the daytimes to enjoy the pleasures of an outdoor cabin that serves as a great gazebo building.

This gadfly needs to eat breakfast!

PGS…Pretty  Good Story.    It seems that an aged pastor knew that death was near and he began to express some of his wishes and desires for his burial.    He told his church council members, his family, and others that he wanted to be buried between a banker and a lawyer.   The people were wondering about what they thought was a strange burial away from his family members but then he explained it.   

"Jesus  died between two Thieves and I want to be like Him….I want to be buried between two Thieves.!"

That gave me a chuckle.  So did the one about the two blondes who were walking down a street and found a makeup compact lying on the sidewalk.  The first blonde opened it up and looked into the mirror.  "Hey this person looks familiar!" she declared.

The second blonde took a look and replied, "Of course she is familiar…it’s me!"

I see that the dangerous dog was "put down" yesterday by Moorhead police.  This morning I heard a small discussion about cities maybe needing to regulate certain breeds of dogs….including Pit Bulls, who have the worst record when it comes to biting and attacking humans.  Maybe cities need to declare Pit Bulls and other notoriously dangerous breeds illegal to keep in a city setting.  Some dogs need constant confinement or supervision and should be in rural areas only…..but even be confined there.   I am sick of hearing about people being killed by dogs, who, the owners always say "are gentle as a kitten"…….yeah..like a cougar kitten maybe.

This issue could give the Barnesville City Council something to work on since they have already banned the dangerous ducks, Winnie and Babbles.

Just when one thinks they have heard it all, up comes an interesting tidbit about playing Bingo in a cowpasture!  Our farm magazines and newspapers to which we subscribe are good sources for off-beat bits of news that are not only informative (most of it) but also entertaining.  

In the latest issue of FARM SHOW, on the editor’s notebook page comes a story about Cowpie Bingo.  Here it is as the magazine reports it.

"Minnesota is a wonderful state to live in. But we have a government that sometimes has too much time on its hands.  Recently, the Minnesota Gambling Control Board launched an investigation into Cowpie Bingo.  The game, which has caught on in rural areas across the country, consists of a field marked off with white, numbered squares.  People buy squares and a cow is let loose in the field.  If the cow "does her business" on your square, you’re the winner.       The Gambling Board is apparently worried that the game might be rigged either by someone training the cow, or seeding tasty grass in one area.  Recently, regulators read in the paper about a Cowpie Bingo event being held in the small town of Kiester, MN. The fundraiser had been held regularly for 20 years.  The bureaucrats did their duty and ordered the organizers to cease and desist.  Needless to say, no funds were raised for this year’s charity."

Isn’t that the kind of "regulation" that causes ordinary people to despise governmental agencies?  It reminds me of a Mark Twain quotation that I am particularly fond of and I am going to quote it with a slight change in one word. I am subsituting the word "bureaucrat" for Twain’s original word, "congressman".

"Suppose you were an Idiot.  And then suppose you were a Bureaucrat…..but I repeat myself."    (Mark Twain)

I am not a gambling woman but I think I would buy a chance in a game of Cowpie Bingo…especially if the "bets" were used for a worthwhile charity.   Creativity is not dead…whoever came up with the concept of "Cowpie Bingo" is clever and creative to the max!

I just got back inside after watching the sun setting…..it is only 7:30 p.m. but the sun is almost down to the horizon. We must be "losing daylight" at incredible rates these days.  It gets dark around 8 p.m. now.  The sun is setting right in the middle of the horizon…just as it does on or around March 20-21, but now the light is leaving us instead of coming at us. I still enjoy this time of year….the fall sunshine on a cool crisp day is wonderful.  I spent time in it today while I plucked the last of the miniature pumpkins and dragged the vines out of the formerly green and verdant pumpkin patch. It now looks bare and cold.  Fall has definitely "fell" on the garden tonight. It has the feel of the first frost in the chilly air right now. I expect to see very limp and dead impatiens in my planter tomorrow morning but it is time.  They have been looking battered over the past few days.  Amazingly, last night, just as it was getting dark, Buffaloguy saw a lone Hummer feeding from the impatiens.  I think he must be the last of the commuters going south and he just pulled into the nearest fast-food joint (our impatiens planter) for a quick meal before he hit the airways going south as fast he could flap his tiny wings. 

Tonight reminds me of the fall evenings I used to spend with neighborhood kids in our block.  In those days there were leaf fires lit and burning all along our graveled street. There were not any no-burning bans in  towns like we lived in…..we kids loved those leaf fires and we waited til our folks all went inside the houses for the night and then took advantage of that delightful short time before they called us inside.  One thing I remember doing was "making cigars" out of newspaper rolled up tightly around dry leaves.  We then lit our "cigars" and attempted to smoke them, all the while keeping an eye out for a porch light to snap on meaning the parents would be on us in a minute.  One of the neighbors was so eager to puff his "cigar" he sucked in some live flames and seared his tongue…..it was not serious but it was enough to discourage the rest of "the smokers".   We also played "Star-light, Moon-light, I hope to see the Ghost tonight" on those dark chilly fall evenings.  We did it all summer too but it was better in September when the mosquitos were not so pesky for the "Ghost" who often had to hide in mosquito-infested nooks and crannies.  We would shiver in scary anticipation on the wooden steps of the old Methodist Church while we counted to 100 to give the Ghost a chance to go out and lurk until we came out chanting, "Starlight, Moonlight, I hope to see the Ghost tonight"…over and over while we hung close to each other the farther we got away from the church steps….sometimes a full harvest moon lit up the yard and it made it even scarier as we crept on, chanting our sing-song rhyme about seeing the ghost tonight.  When we got chased by the ghost, we all nearly wet out britches as we ran, screaming, back to the wooden steps.  Inevitably one of us would get caught and then the caught one had to be the Ghost on the next round.  It still amazes me that we would get so scared by one of our well know playmates hiding as "the Ghost".  Our imaginations ran wild in those days.

I should get some grandkids out here on a full moon September night and play the old Ghost game with them.   My little sister, when she got old enough to join us in the ghost hunt, would have nightmares and crawl in bed with my my mom and dad who did not appreciate a whimpering scared little girl crowding into  their bed and their much needed sleep and I would get scolded for taking her out to play "Starlight, Moonlight".  We all survived it somehow, and both my parents lived well into thier eighties in spite of lost sleep.

  I will have to ask my Sis if she still has bad dreams occasionally thinking she is being chased by "The Ghost" in the moonlight at the Methodist Church yard next to our old home.

This was not the way to start a new day but I did it anyway.  The first article I read this morning in the FORUM was the account of the Oberon, ND man ….no, the word is "creep" …..who was sentenced to 30 years for possessing so much child porn one could barely stand to read about it.  Just a few days ago there were accounts in the newspaper about yet another informational meeting held in Fargo about a couple of sex offenders who had moved into certain neighborhoods. This kind of meeting is held often.     One reads constantly about sex offenders getting sentenced, but it is very rare for a 30 year sentence to be handed down….too often, it is for a year or less or they get some sort of probation and supervision. 

 I might sound harsh, but what would be wrong with giving these people that ruin childrens’ lives a sentence that would keep them off the streets forever???  I suppose there would have to be all sorts of expansion of prison facilities since this seems to be a crime committed by countless numbers of perverts.  To save one child from the clutches of these sickos, it would be worth the cost to have every single one of them locked up with a key thrown away.  There seems to be no such thing has rehabilitating a sex offender.  We have suffered through the accounts of  a Dru Sjodin case and way too many others who have fallen victim to a "released" sex offenders who immediately go on the prowl looking for someone else to rape or molest or murder.

Young lives are forever ruined by an encounter with a sex offender.  Even those who are not murdured in the process are "mentally murdured" for the remainder of their lives.  I personally know of two young people who are probably in their 30′s or older who were molested as youngsters and have never gotten over the horror of the experience.  What price should those who perpetrate such crimes on innocent children pay?  I don’t think they pay nearly enough with the slaps on the wrists being issued by judicial systems.  The 30 year sentence to the Oberon "excuse for a human" seems far more just but why not put the "lesser’ offenders away for similar lengths of time to keep them from recommitting their ugly acts on children?

The testimonies of victims of pedophile priests just a few years ago was some of the most agonizing stuff I have ever read.  Grown up men, into their 5th or 6th decades of life had never recovered from what had been done to them.    Sex offenders who prey on children are the lowest of the low and deserve to be put away from the rest of society. 

I wonder what the sentence for these criminals would be in Saudi Arabia or other similar societies??  If  petty thieves get their hands cut off for their crimes, I would shudder to think of what would happen to those who destroy childrens’ lives, as the ones we read about  in this country.  

Our justice system is way too lenient, not only for sex offenders, but for other criminals as well.  The rate of recidivism should be a red light for all the lenient judges who put the monsters back among the rest of us.