YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART...

There's a new movement regarding hearts called Happy Heart Hunt. Folks all over this country are creating magnificent heart displays to let everyone know we are all in this together. Whether it a home's front windows/ door/ signs by the street the message of love is clear...

We appreciate those of you who are putting yourselves out there with this deadly virus due to your jobs to help take care of the rest of us.

 I knew I wanted to do something but living a mile back in the End of the Rainbow Valley does restrict who could see any window endeavors.  Then, I came across a post of how a family decorated their mailbox. Perfect, I could let the mailman know how much he is appreciated...

It's too bad I couldn't have seen his expression after he opened our mailbox yesterday but every day he'll be reminded that we appreciate him.

Stay tuned for the outside of the mailbox to be painted but I wanted to make sure we had 2 days in a row without rain...
How about joining me in decorating your mailboxes and sending me pics of your works of art which I can share here? 

Join me in thanking the person who comes to your house 6 days / week...

Here's Jen's  mailbox thank you:

MONDAY MUSINGS: A DIFFERENT TIME, BUT IS IT?

Have you ever heard about the historical significance of Lake Windermere in England ?

We here in the End of the Rainbow Valley learned about it this past Sunday on a PBS special. After WWII (the Liberation) over 700 Holocaust survivors were sent to Lake Windermere to a former industrial plant where volunteer therapists were awaiting to help in their transition and recuperation.

Philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore is responsible for spearheading this endeavor. The therapists had a big job of first gaining the survivors's trust. But what differentiates these survivors is that they are all children... 

This true story deals with the first 300 traumatized jewish children of  Czech, Polish and German origins.  Amongst the teenaged youth were also a small group of preschoolers with an inseparable bond...

These children had no clue as to the demise of their family members since they had been separated at the beginning of WWII during roundups, sometimes at the train stations before being sent to the different 'work' camps/once they arrived.  

Their days of readjustment at Lake Windemere were filled with art therapy, English lessons, sports, and psychotherapy. One's heartstrings can't help but be tugged on as one witnesses the damage done by the camps. Night terrors are just one of their plagues... During their summer stay at Lake Windermere the Red Cross would also deliver the news of their families. 

I couldn't help but think how horrific the German soldiers were enforcing the German work camp rules. And then, my mind flips to the separation of the refugee children from their parents at our border and their horrible treatment. Unlike the German's systematic bookkeeping, the U.S. has not kept track of the whereabouts of these refugee families and reuniting them has become a nightmare . All these conditions will traumatize these children for the rest of their days too.

 Why does history have to repeat itself? Can we not learn from the err of our ways?

PBS's Windermere Children will have repeat airings and also there is a documentary with the 90+ year old survivors sharing their memories. Both are worth your time...

FOTO FRIDAY: GAS ME UP

There's not a whole heck of a lot to celebrate in today's world right now but when it comes to filling up one's car at the gas station that's another story.  It has been almost 20 years since folks have paid these prices...

Here's the price posted today of a locally owned convenience store chain in Wisconsin. You can't make this stuff up.

HOLY TOLEDO! I told Natureman we should just drive around to use up gas so that we can go fill up again...  

UPDATE: This past Monday the only good thing about having to go to the COVID19 testing area on the north side of town was the opportunity to fill the tank for $1.26 . Incredible, right?

Last week's FOTO FRIDAY was NAT'L PET DAY  Did you submit your pets's pics?

TBT: JEEPERS CREEPERS, Where did you get those Peepers?

According to the calendar April 1st is known for hearing the first of the peepers. Some might think a peeper would be little chicks because we were taught as children- chicks make the noise peep, peep. Right?

Well, that might be but in the country the sounds of spring also  includes other peepers which are little frogs and yesterday as we got closer to the creek in the End of the Rainbow Valley we could hear the occasional peeper. NOT a full blown chorus like we can usually hear from the house because the night before it was cold enough for a frost. Those little guys don't like the cold. But sure enough there were a couple warming up their vocal cords. Today is supposed to get to 60 and I have a feeling our walks will be getting noisier. For this TBT I have included a link to an old blog entry of the peeper chorus. 

While the greeting at the end is to Have a Good Spring. It's a bit difficult to get out and about on lockdown but do escape at least in you backyards/ open your windows to listen to the sounds of spring.

JEEPERS CREEPERS LISTEN TO THOSE PEEPERS...

COOPED UP ...

Yesterday's blue skies were most welcomed and beckoning after 3 rainy dismal days. The chickens had been given free range from their coop but they needed feed. Natureman was ready to head out for the local Co-op where they would leave his order on a pallet by the warehouse. I stopped him at the door and suggested we could combine it with a dog walk on our local town's trail right next to the Co-op. So, he waited for me to change to walking clothes as I had been exercising and off we went... 

It was a light jacket day and we did see a handful of others with the same intentions of changing their scenery. The handful of folks we did see were very space conscious either moving onto the grassy areas and cutting their own path. 

I felt for the young mom with 4 boys all under the age of 5. This social distancing must be really tough for young families. These guys really needed to stretch their legs after being 'cooped up'. One dog owner with 2 furry creatures had one off leash who ended not being happy with her decision to approach Balto. Our Balto now after a couple doggie daycare visits thinks every dog must want to play with him. Well, he found out otherwise. It took everything I had to hold him back with his leash. The other owner looked PO'ed but never called her dog back and seriously, my dog wasn't the one off leash. Now who's getting testy?

What also caught my attention were 2 teenaged girls who drove up in separate cars. Did their parents know of this meeting/ did they care?  We passed the girls 20 minutes later as they visited on a bench near the water's edge. It's this naivete that still takes me aback.  This social distancing has to be understood. 

When emails arrive talking about seeing each other in April, I am befuddled. Seriously, this virus is not going to just dissipate because it's inconvenient.  The  La Crosse county so far only has had 18 testing positive but the CoVid19 tests are limited and most folks with some symptoms are sent home for the 2 week household isolation. Until folks start getting really sick and needing to be hospitalized will we begin to know this virus's severity. 

Meanwhile we need to be vigilant limiting interactions and really helping others understand the importance of using our electronic devices to connect us and help us with this cooped up feeling. 

       Oh yea, there's this thing called a phone too ...

 

MONDAY MUSINGS: UNORTHODOX

Unorthodox according to the dictionary means 'contrary to what is usual, traditional, or accepted. By that definition I'd say we are living in pretty unorthodox times, wouldn't you? 

Today's musing is fueled by our isolated in the End of the  Rainbow Valley household watching a new NetFlix movie UNORTHODOX about a young, unhappy woman who lives in an insular ultra orthodox Jewish community. A community where there are traditional rules to live by, where there is no room for individualism. If you are cut off from the modern world then that is the only world you know. There are so many parallels of what our country is facing right now. Power, control and the threat of change...UNORTHODOX (movie trailer)

internet image

At one period in time we all now find ourselves living with a pandemic, bizarre climate issues and an economic crisis to boot. Those in charge of decision making like those elders/ Rabbis in UNORTHODOX don't want to lose control and the U.S.A is a white, male christian dominated society who interrupted their insularism by deciding for economic reasons to go global. Oops. Difficult to go back now...

Those in charge are rightfully panicky trying to regain control. Hence the divisiveness based on gender, class, race, religion and now age. Tightening their reign by making others the enforcers, providing misinformation, covering up for their /others's mistakes. 
Do we have the time to waste trying to figure out the who/whys right now as there will be others to write the history?

Wouldn't it be more helpful for everyone just to do what's right? Just like no amount of mind control can squelch the human spirit forever those male/female/ color/ age/class who have expertise in these different areas need to be able to do their jobs. Couldn't we just let them?

It's Monday, I'm just musing... 

FOTO FRIDAY: NAT'L PET DAY

Our goats are still with our neighbor and we're minus a chicken. The barn cats are no longer in the barn but camped out on the front porch awaiting a weakened resident  (Natureman / me) to let them in the house. Balto is the only pet moving between the inside and outside.

So in honor of National Pet Day FOTO FRIDAY is dedicated to Balto, Blanca and Bebe (r to l). 

Here are the kids greeting a new day.

This is a real screen shot.

                             Here's Bebe insisting on her own  selfie.

Bebe alias barn cat

Come on everyone loves sharing their pet. Send me your pets's pic and they will be included too!

From Minnesota come these two cuddlers part of the Levitt household (R)


and Hershey from the Sadoff household below...

From Arkansas  we've got Ginger's pugs.












Here from Wisconsin with Barb's Louie with Big Bird.



Click here for last week's FOTO FRIDAY.