Guns & the "March For Our Lives"

            The "March For Our Lives" takes place today.  I am glad to see the next generation of voters standing up for themselves and their own safety, and for putting the politicians and special interests on notice that they won't be the impotent, brainwashed  sheep that today's voters seem to be.  Let's hope that they mature into better thinking, less gullible, and better voters than what we have now.

            The misuse of guns and the failure of our politicians to provide for the safety of our children and other citizens with reasonable gun access measures are at the heart of the march.

            I have to say that I fully support the second amendment and its purpose, but I also fully support reasonable measures to keep guns away from those who would wrongly use them. 

            The purpose of the second amendment is to maintain a well armed populace to protect the people and the nation against tyrants, both domestic and foreign.  Under the second amendment people have an irrevocable right, and maybe even a duty, to own and maintain arms.  The revolution that founded our nation, and the current tilt of our nation's President and Congress toward an increasingly authoritarian and Fascist government, makes that need clear. 

            Owning and maintaining firearms for the purpose of hunting is not addressed by the second amendment.  It neither supports or prohibits hunting.   

            Those things having been said, one must understand that with every right granted to us by the constitution, there comes with it a corresponding responsibility to use that right in a safe and constructive manner that contributes to the general welfare of the people, rather than detracting from it.  Common sense tells me that the founding fathers did not intend that the second amendment be used to boost gun sales to make arms dealers richer, or to make guns more easily and readily available to criminals, violent psychopaths, the mentally ill, bullied and abused children, or anxiety riddled, paranoid concealed gun toters.  I think I can say with full confidence that they definitely didn't intend for the second amendment to be used to enable massacres in our schools, churches, and crowds.  There has to be, and I believe there is, room between the second amendment and common sense gun restrictions to provide reasonable safety for all citizens. 

            There will never be perfect and complete safety for all, no matter what we do, but there is plenty more that we can do to improve and work toward that goal.  Getting our politicians to actually do something for their constituents instead of the gun lobbies, and getting people to listen to their common sense and think of themselves and their loved one's safety instead of succumbing to the brain washing propaganda they hear and see on social media would be a start.  Politicians won't do anything unless the people demand that they do so, and the people won't force them to do something until they have to.  Today's march is a welcome step toward making that happen.  Good luck marchers!

Harry Hester / Morter house 2009

        The house in this April 2009 photo is the Morter House in South Salem,
Ohio.  The woman who originally lived in the house was the half sister of Queen
Victoria of England, and could have been queen herself, had she not renounced
her right to the throne to marry a commoner and move to America. 

      The Morter house was built around 1850 by Blythe Jagward Morter. 
Blythe Morter, a commoner and a stone mason, had somehow managed to meet and
marry a member of the royal house of England - Mary, daughter of the Duke of
Kent, and granddaughter of King George III.  As a consequence, Mary was forced
to give up all rights to the throne of England. The results of her act became
painfully clear a few years later when the then King, William IV, died.  Mary
would have been next in line to the throne, but since she had married a
commoner, her younger sister Victoria ascended to the throne instead. 
        Soon after Victoria became Queen, Blythe Morter decided to move to
America.  He left his wife and children temporarily in England while he went
ahead to America make a home for them before they too arrived.  He picked South
Salem, Ohio, for some reason, and in 1850 bought a small lot on Main Street in
the middle of town.  He then contracted with local carpenters to build a small
frame home on the lot and wrote to his wife to meet him with the children in
New York. He then left South Salem while the house was being built, to travel
to New York to meet her. 
        Unfortunately, the mail was not too reliable in those days, and Mary
did not get to New York in the time expected.  Blythe became worried and set
sail for England to go get his family.  In the meantime, his wife Mary finally
got his letter and set sail for America.  It is very likely that the two passed
each other on separate ships going separate directions in the middle of the
Atlantic!  Once in New York, Mary had to take several odd jobs to feed and
shelter her children and herself while she waited for Blythe to come to her,
but eventually she and Blythe finally got back together and set off for their
new home in South Salem, Ohio. 
        Upon arrival in South Salem, to their deep chagrin, Mary and Blythe
found that their house was still not finished.  The plaster was still wet and
many windows had not yet been installed.  Having no where else to stay, the
family moved into the house just as it was.  Unfortunately, Mary was exhausted
from her long trip over the sea, her long weeks of hard work in New York, and
the long trip through the wilderness to South Salem.  The unfinished drafty and
damp house proved to be too much for her.  She soon contracted a bad cold, and
in her weakened condition, fell prey to tuberculosis.  She died the following
Spring, and was buried in the South Salem Cemetery.  A grieving Blythe Morter
farmed his children out to friends and relatives, and then left South Salem. 
He eventually remarried and resettled in Licking County, Ohio, but never
returned to the house that he had built for Mary. 
        The Morter house went through many owners as the years passed.  Like
other houses, it was modified, improved, and added onto.  I don't know any
further history about the house and its other owners until my mother's uncle,
Harry Hester, purchased the house sometime in the 20th century.  He and his
wife, my great-aunt Viola Beechler Hester, lived in the Morter house as far
back as I can remember.  Harry and Viola raised two sons in the Morter house,
and Harry operated a produce business across the street from the house for many
years.  Harry took his own life in the house in 1997.  
        A few years after this picture was taken, the Morter house burned to
the ground.  It has not been replaced.  The Morter house was located at North
Latitude 39.3365 and West Longitude 83.30832, or in old measurements N
39 degrees 20 minutes 11.4 seconds and W 83 degrees 18 minutes 30 seconds.

 

Viola Francis Beechler Hester.

Trump Buyers Remorse

            I have been seeing an ever increasing number of stories on-line recently about disappointed Trump voters who didn't get what they expected in return for their votes.  Latinos who voted Trump are being deported.  Coal miners and factory workers who voted Trump are being laid off while their jobs still go overseas.   Women who voted Trump are seeing their gender being defamed, criticized, and held back more than ever.  Sick and elderly people who voted Trump are seeing Trump and Republicans try every trick in the book to take away their health care insurance and kill them off because they cost too much to keep alive.  The number of disappointed and betrayed Trump voters grows each day.

            Maybe I should feel sorry for such people, but I don't.  They failed to use common sense , they willingly bought into what were obvious lies, they voted with bigotry in their hearts, and they willingly cut off their noses to spite their faces just to destroy the system they had instead of voting for those who wanted to improve it.  Now they must reap what they have sown.  Unfortunately, a lot of innocents will suffer with them.

            The ever increasing number of disappointed and betrayed Trump voters reminds me of the old story of the man, the river, and the snake.  In the story a man walks up to a river that he must wade across to get to the other side.  He hears a voice and looks down. He sees a poisonous snake on the ground.  The snake says, "Please help me get to the higher ground on the other side of the river.  Help me and I will reward you with great riches.  I cannot get there by myself.  I need your help." 

            The man answers, "I can't help you.  You are a poisonous snake and you will bite me and I will die."

            The snake replies, "No, I won't.  I am a good snake.  I am the best!  I promise I won't hurt you.  Help me and I will give you everything you could want.  I'll even help you destroy all those bad people on the other side of the river.  It will be great!  It will be huge!"

            The man says, "Well, OK then.  I believe you.  I'll help you get to the other side."

            The man then picked up the poisonous snake and placed him in a position of trust upon his shoulder.  The two them started wading across the river.

            When the man and the snake reached the middle of the river, the snake suddenly bit the man in the neck.  As the poisonous venom entered the man's blood stream, he grew weaker, and he and the snake both slowly began to sink to their doom beneath the water.  The dying man cried out, "I trusted you.  You seemed so sincere.  Why did you bite me?  Now we'll both die!"

            The snake was already under water so he couldn't reply.  He did however pull out his smart phone and tweeted out, "I couldn't help myself, that's my nature.  I'm a snake."

            There you go.  Help a poisonous snake … expect to get bit.  Vote for a rich con man who never helped or cared for anybody except himself and his own in his entire life, and expect to get betrayed.  Like the con men say, "There's a sucker born every minute!"  Or, as the Christian Bible says, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap!"                                                                                                                          Those who voted for and elected Trump in the last election shouldn't be surprised that they are now being bit.  No sir, I don't feel sorry for them at all.

Ralph Hoffman- A Forgotten Veteran,

         Veteran's Day is tomorrow, and even though the United States died this past Tuesday and was replaced by a Fascist country of bigots and racists called Trumpland, it is appropriate that we remember a forgotten and unrecognized U.S.A. veteran of World War I.             Ralph Hoffman served in World War I.  He is buried in the South Salem Cemetery at South Salem, Ohio.  His grave had no flag and no veteran's memorial plaque.  I thought it a disgrace to our formerly free country that his grave has been unmarked for all these years after his death.  I had an extra flag so I put one on his grave myself.  I  hope that whoever decorates the graves next year will remember Ralph.           I have attached pictures of Ralph Hoffman's grave, after I placed a flag upon it, and a 1915 picture of him when he was in the U.S. Army.

People in Egypt Are Like Us

            I have just returned from a long trip to Egypt.  It was my first time in this very ancient country.  Like many people, I had always been fascinated by ancient Egyptian monuments and civilization.  When a tour with everything that I wanted to see came up at a reasonable price, I jumped at the opportunity and the chance to finally realize one of the biggest goals on my bucket list. 

            I found Egypt to be just as enjoyable as I had hoped.  The ancient monuments were as dazzling and fantastic as I had always heard.  The Nile River was even more amazing and important than I had ever imagined.  Exploring the monuments and the river are worth making the trip, but getting to know a nation's people and culture are where the heart of any trip lies.  Egypt is no different.  

            Unfortunately, when one takes the path of a fully guided tour, one experiences a somewhat rose-colored and spoon fed version of the local culture, but, even with that, there is still some opportunity to get to know a few real people.  I always like to learn as much as I can.

            The first thing you notice upon arrival in Egypt are the soldiers and the machine gun emplacement guarding the entrance and exit to the airport.  Then, as you proceed to your hotel, and later on through the country, you will see frequent checkpoints, especially at tourist sites, where soldiers and policemen watch everything from behind steel armor-plated shields.  Other police and soldiers in white uniforms, wearing side arms or carrying automatic AR-15 type rifles, supplement the checkpoints and make note of all movement.  Our tour bus had to pull over several times each day as we progressed from one location to another so that the police could check our bus for bombs, run us through and occasional security scanner, and record our number and country of origin. 

            I was told that a military service commitment of one year is compulsory for all Egyptian men upon reaching adulthood.  I was also told that any active duty soldier has the right to stop any person anywhere at any time to check their identification and travel papers, and to jail or cite them if their papers are not in order, or if their personal appearance and clothes are not clean and respectable.  I noticed that the Egyptian people all seemed to be clean in appearance, with close shaved faces or well trimmed beards and clean, hole free clothing, and I had wondered at this marvel.  There were no slobs or kids with their pants hanging down to their ankles in Egypt.  It appears that the soldiers are doing a very thorough job.                

            The second thing that one notices when arriving in Egypt, at least in Cairo, is the insane traffic.  The main road in the city consists of four traffic lanes in each direction, but the four lanes can suddenly and without warning turn into seven lanes of traffic.  Cars, buses, and trucks cram into every possible available space in order to get ahead of everybody else.  Vehicles are sometimes only inches apart.  Pedestrians walk across the road as if the traffic doesn't even exist and drivers go around them just the same as if both vehicle and pedestrian are surrounded by several feet of bouncy bubble wrap.  Horns honk every few feet.  There are no traffic lights and there are no left hand turns across traffic.  The whole scene reminds one of a crowd in a theater trying to reach the exit after hearing the word "fire"! 

            Every car in Cairo has scratches and dents, regardless of whether the vehicle is new or old.  Most vehicles don't even stop if they bump someone else.  Comprehensive and liability insurance is not required by law, and is not wanted by most.  If one's vehicle is damaged in an accident, regardless of the damage to the car or one's body, one does not usually sue the other driver, even if the accident was the other driver's fault.  One merely accepts any loss, medical costs, and hardship as being one's fate, and then forgives the other driver (ideally) and moves on with his life as best as he can.

            Because of the large amount of cars, garbage fires in the streets, and other pollutants, Egypt has heavy smog from one end of the country to the other.  The smog makes it harder to breathe.  At night, one cannot see the stars because of the smog, even in areas away from the city.

            The people of Egypt, at least the educated people, are very concerned with the election in the United States.  They want to know, and seriously worry about, whether all Americans are bigots, misogynists, and haters of Muslims, as Donald Trump portrays us to be.  They worry that Trump is going to start a campaign of persecution, and even worse, against Muslims if he is elected.  The people who discussed the election with me and my fellow tourists said that they have regarded America as the shining example of acceptance, equal opportunity, and freedom in the world, but now they worry that it may be something worse than they could ever have imagined.

            The Egyptians that I talked to said they wanted to make it clear to Americans that they are not terrorists.  All they want is the same thing in life that every other person wants - a chance to live safely in peace, without fear, and to be able to take care of their families and earn a decent living.  They say that Islam is basically a peaceful religion, but Islam does have its share of psychopaths, just like Christianity or any other religion.  They want us to know that they, and Islam, do not support these psychopaths. 

            It is true that Islam does require Muslims to practice jihad, or holy war.  However, jihad originally means that one must protect himself and his religion when he is attacked, not go out and attack others.  It is not permissible to just go out and attack whoever is different from you, and it is not permissible under jihad to kill or harm women and children, unless they first attack you.  In fact, the Egyptians told me, someone who violates these tenants will go to hell, under Islam, instead of getting 70 virgins in heaven.  The 70 virgins story is a myth, told for the benefit of those who are ignorant and easily manipulated.

            I was surprised to learn that everyday Egyptians seem to know, and take it for granted, that Saudi Arabia is mostly responsible for the current terrorism spreading throughout the world.  They say that many rich Saudis financially pay for many of the terrorist attacks throughout the world.  Saudi Arabia also requires a book from a radical Islamist, written hundreds of years after the Koran, to be taught in their schools.  The book teaches that Muslims must kill anyone (ANYONE!) that is different from them, making terror acts and murder the official policy of Saudi Arabia.  The Egyptians that I talked to made it clear that if we want to bring terrorism under control, we have to first deal with Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia is not the friend that many in power in our government claim it to be.

            Another very important thing that one will notice in Egypt is the condition of the public restrooms.  I only used the mens' restrooms, of course, but I found most to be filthy, in poor repair, occasionally lacking water, always lacking paper, and in general, always disgusting.  Egypt wants to build up their tourism industry, but, in my opinion, Egypt should be ashamed to offer such restrooms to those visiting their country. 

            One interesting thing about Egyptian restrooms is that you will find outside each restroom entrance, a man, woman, or child who will hand you four sections of toilet paper to use for any and all purposes while inside.  In return, you are expected to hand them at least one Egyptian pound coin, which is about 10 cents U.S.  Egypt is a poor country and this type of begging is the only way some people can make a living.  I suspected many times that these people stole the paper from the restrooms early in the day just so users would have to give them money for the paper.

            Ask for coffee in Egypt and you will get Nescafe instant coffee, not brewed.  The food is somewhat bland, but includes plenty of lentils, local fruits, vegetables, pita bread, Tahini and similar spreads, and stews, at least where I ate.  

            There is no middle class in Egypt.  You are either poor or you are well off.  There is no welfare or government support system for the sick, poor, or aged.  Each person has to work or depend upon their family to live.  The oldest able bodied male is responsible for the well being of the women in his family.  Our tour bus drove by a large cemetery one day.  Our guide informed us that over 500,000 people lived with the dead in the cemetery because they could not afford to rent or buy a house or apartment and they did not have any family to take care of them.  We have homeless people here in America too who live in cemeteries, so I guess the practice is not all that unusual.                                      

            Most average Egyptian people live in apartment buildings which they either rent or buy.  The apartments are as plain as a cardboard box on the outside and made of concrete and brick.  They have no decorations and no attempt is made to make the exterior look appealing.  The buildings looked like giant bee hives to me.  I wasn't able to go inside one of the apartments, but I was told that the interiors are decorated nicely, just like any other home. 

            I was privileged to attend a wedding after-party at my hotel while I was in Cairo.  In the after party, the bride and groom come out into public view to dance to live music so as to proclaim their marriage and joy to the world.  The bride in her white wedding gown, and the groom in his new dark suit, descended the decorated hotel stairs, and led several dances in the hotel lobby.  A live band with drums, a saxophone, and other instruments preceded them, playing Arabic music all the while.  Other women were dressed in beautiful and colorful Arabic clothing.  The dance lasted for about a half an hour and then the wedding party and guests went back upstairs to feast and party some more.  Our tour guide explained that if a couple cannot afford to rent a building for their party, they sometimes just hold it in the middle of the street.  Traffic automatically and courteously just diverts around them.  I felt very privileged to be apart of this couple's wedding celebration.

            In general, I found Egypt to be fascinating.  I enjoyed every minute of the trip, even though it was physically exhausting.  It took more than a day each time to travel back and forth between the US and Egypt, my visit was not long enough to fully adjust to the time differences, our schedule was very full and hectic, and we had to get up several times around 3:00 a.m. in order to get to our destinations in the cool part of the day, but the trip turned out to be worth it.  I had always felt an unexplainable tie to ancient Egypt, and it was good to finally be able to satisfy my curiosity. 

Retha Hester's Poverty Cake Recipe

Retha (Roosa) Hester (1918-2001) was my mother, Viola (Hester) Cokonougher's, aunt.  She undoubtably helped my mother start her recipe book back when my mother and father were first married, as well as exchange further recipes with her in the years after.  This is one of those recipes, scanned from my mother's recipe files.  I think the handwriting might be my mother's.  I have added Retha's picture below the recipe.

This is a picture of Retha Hester from 1946.

Like Eating Cardboard - The Flying Pizza

            I never met a pizza I didn't like, but yesterday, I met one I didn't like very much at all.   I was very disappointed in the New York style pepperoni pizza that I purchased last evening at The Flying Pizza at 421 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Centerville, Ohio.

            A friend and I were driving through town, when suddenly, we developed cravings for the mouth watering and fulfilling taste of warm melted cheese, hot spicy pepperoni, zesty sweet tomato sauce, and the flavorful warm, slightly risen crust in a normal, well made pizza pie.   We decided to stop at the very next pizza joint that we came across.  Unfortunately, that was The Flying Pizza. 

            My friend and I ordered a New York style cheese and pepperoni pizza.  The pizza shop's staff were friendly and very helpful in explaining our options and in taking our order.  They told us that our order would be ready in ten minutes.  The price of the pizza was within normal limits, $14.00 for a 14 inch pie.  We ate in the restaurant, instead of taking our order out. 

            Our pizza arrived within the promised ten minutes.  It was hot and ready to eat.  Things went downhill from there.  The layers of cheese, sauce, and meat were each very thin and very bland tasting.  The crust was over cooked on the bottom and undercooked on the top.  My friend thought that the condition of the dough/crust might be due to the shop's oven might being too hot and the cooking time too short.  Chewing and tasting the pizza was a bit like that old stereotype saying of "chewing and eating cardboard".   The only other thing comparable that I can think of is reheated, day old,  cheap frozen pizza.  I don't know if people in New York really like their "New York style" pizza fixed this way, or not, but if they do, I think I'll avoid eating pizza when I visit.    

 

           Neither my friend nor I were satisfied.  We both agreed that we would not recommend this pizza shop to our other friends.  I would rate it a 1 out of 5.