Puffs

I’m not sure, but I suspect what I’m going to relate is common among quite a number of “older” people.

Some time back while discussing health issues, someone asked about the number of different medications I took, and how many different pills I took daily.

I had to stop and count, but then realized that “most” of the pills I took every day were not “medicine” but were vitamins, or diet supplements. All “suggested” by a doctor someplace.

The doctor-prescribed medicine is pretty easy to understand, but all that other stuff, you may just wonder about.

We have a habit of shopping for these “extra” pills only every couple of months, buying a large supply each time to tied us over.

We did that last week and our credit card bill will reflect that shortly. However, we noticed something different in certain ones of our purchases. The packaging and contents were not the same.

Some (but not all) packages contained fewer items than in the past. Others contained fewer ounces of a supplement. Things that just told us we were paying the same or higher prices for fewer items or amounts.

We’ve noticed this for some time and we attributed the changes to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this time, the first remark out of the mouth gave a verbal diatribe to our present president, Mr. Biden. “I can’t wait until 2024,” was a common theme of the diatribe.

The president’s supporters and advisors usually note there is no direct line connecting what is happening today in society and specific things like reduced value of our money.

However, did you ever notice how much more pleasant society is when we have a Republican president than the Liberal Democrats? President Reagan, the Bush presidencies, even Trump, with his more forceful style always seemed more pleasant and got more things done than what the Liberal Democrats try to do.

So, I can’t say President Biden is responsible for the higher prices I pay for all those pills I buy every few months, but I can sure blame him for the society’s decline in so many other ways that either directly or indirectly affect the prices I pay.

A O

However frustrated we get with our commercial and social lives, nature give an almost equal frustration.

Take last week’s rain for example.

The whole state is suffering from a prolonged drought now for quite some time.

Last Thursday night, us folks living inside the city limits of Lawrence felt that we had a chance to break the drought cycle. I got up the next morning and found my rain gage with 2.6 inches in it. I felt good about that and after morning Mass my back door neighbor said her gauge read the same. However, in checking with several friends who lived outside of Lawrence, I found out the rain stopped just east of Lawrence. Even in Lawrence I come to find out the official amount to go into the record book was 1.4 inches. Quite a difference in just four or five block distance.

Life is interesting, and we best find out what we’re living for.

A O

Clan Guthrie . . .

Last weekend I had a visit with Mr. Dennis (Woody) Guthrie of Odell, Nebraska. Sometime past we became acquainted and he asked for help in locating descendants who lived in this area (primarily Webster County). I found information in the Lawrence High School list of graduates and in the Lawrence Diamond Jubilee book. Melvin Haba helped with information on Oak Creek cemetery.

In any event, Mr. Guthrie’s adventure in genealogy began more than 30 years ago when he found a bit of a family tree in a notebook that belonged to his mother. His interest was spiked and the result is a family book “Clan Guthrie.”

He noted he realized just a few years back that he wasn’t getting any younger and if he died, all the information he was able to put together would most likely end up in a trash bin someplace. So, he was able to put together the family book and was now getting it around to family.

He also noted he would still be interested in family information from anyone in this area if anyone knows of it. It seems he has been able to track his family root back to the 1200s and there is a “Guthrie Castle” still standing in Scotland.

Families he is interested in besides Guthrie are ‘Shirley’ and ‘Grove.’

Mr. Guthrie is donating a book to the school and I have a copy if anyone is interested to study them.

Interesting weekend and learned more of our Lawrence history.

A O

I’m going to end this week with several thoughts from Pope Francis.

First of all, the Pope warned against the danger of living life without a sense of purpose.

The Pope noted: “When we lose sight of what makes life worth living for, we compress our life into the present.” The Pope continued: “We merely seek maximum enjoyment and end up living day by day, without purpose, without a goal.”

The Pope was not talking about American politics while making the above remarks, however, he could well have been.

Let’s see, the Liberals certainly want everyone to seek ‘maximum enjoyment’ and they want to do it by giving us rules and regulation to live by, even if they don’t make any sense. For example, their attempts to install a “gender” identity and treatment that don’t make any sense at all. Or, while everyone would like “green energy”, it can’t be forced before we’re ready for it.

The Republicans also do what they can to enhance our enjoyment, but it seems that their efforts reduce laws and regulations that allow us to live a more relaxed life that ends up helping us live a ‘better’ life.

It just so happened that the Pope related another thought over this past weekend that gives us all something to think about. He said: “Birth rates and a welcoming attitude reveal how much happiness is present in society. A happy community naturally develops the desire to generate and welcome others, while an unhappy society is reduced to a group of individuals defending what they have at all costs.”

A O