Julianne O'Hara - My Little Sister - September 1, 1954 to July 30, 2020

My sister Julianne O’Hara passed away on the morning of July 30th. She had spent three hours in surgery the previous day to repair a hiatal hernia. She was in great spirits on the night after the surgery, and was talking and laughing with her sister-in-law. And even this morning she was alert. However at around 9 am a nurse checked on her and found her to be unresponsive. Julie was coded, but she never came back.

I called her Julianne, but to her friends, of which she had so many, she was known as Julie, Miss Julie, "Owie" or "Ohie", and Aunt Julie. She was indeed a terrific Aunt, and never forgot birthdays. She loved to see her nieces perform in musicals.

Every year at Christmas she got her mother tickets to The Showboat, which was an old ship that was docked on the edge of the Ohio River. It had been converted into a theater. The staff at The Showboat actually came to know Julie and Mom by name.

Julie is one of a few people I know that kept in close touch with many of her childhood friends and class mates. They all got together several times a year for a reunion. Just last week she and her friend took a drive through the old neighborhood to recall those good days before going to the hospital.

Julie (or Miss Julie) spent her entire life teaching daycare in Newport and Ft. Thomas, and I bet she took care of many of your children when they were in her care. When she was much younger, she spent a lot of time each May putting together musical plays for the four years old kid’s preschool graduation.

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that she is gone. I am going to miss her laugh, and sweet spirit. I am sure she would want you all to know how much she loved you all and appreciated your friendship. I will sure miss my sister.

I am preparing to go the funeral home today, August 2nd, 2020, as I write this remembrance. We will all say good-bye and talk about the times we had with her. Tomorrow she will be laid to rest at the cemetery. I wish this did not happen. She was so full of life and laughter and should have been able to live another 20 years

Good-bye Sis.

She signed her letters and cards with this hand drawn emoji:

Legitimacy

Somewhere in an old farm house in Alabama is a guy with a big beer belly, wearing a tee shirt that says The South Is Going To Rise Again. He spends his entire day on social media telling all those who will read his ramblings that the White Aryan race is superior and the rest of the world be damned. He feels that his disinformation campaign will draw others to think likewise, as he believes his racist views are legitimate.

Somewhere at a network news studio in New York City is a well groomed man in a thousand dollar suit sitting at a desk in front of a television camera. He is reading the words off of a teleprompter that someone else wrote to convince the viewers to buy into his network’s slanted philosophy of legitimacy.

A well armed Black man in Seattle Washington is inciting rioters at a Black Lives Matter “rally” that has turned violent. Statues are being toppled, stores are being looted, trashed and spray painted. The police, who are trying to serve and protect, are being pummeled with bricks, and stones. This is being done not for some righteous cause, but to reveal to the world that the philosophy of Black Lives Matter is legitimate, although it is a philosophy that probably has little to do with the fact that the lives of all Black people really do matter and more to do with the teachings of Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky.

I guarantee that those who started the riot only care about their own views of legitimacy, power, and conquest. In fact all of these examples are of people and entities that care only about gaining power over the thoughts and minds of anyone who will listen, join them, and share their views.

During the era that I grew up in, if an unmarried woman gave birth to a baby, that baby was considered to be illegitimate. The poor baby may have even been called a bastard, although that innocent child of God had no control over their conception, birth or existence. In the eyes of the world at that time, such a child had no claim to legitimacy.  In my eyes they are a precious creation with the blessing of life and therefore are indeed legitimate.

Lately we have been assaulted on all sides by characters and factions telling us what is legitimate and that we are illegitimate unless we play follow the leader.

Don’t listen to their lies!

Jonestown Massacre 
click here to see the carnage

Don’t forget all those poor souls that believed in Jim Jones version of legitimacy. They moved to his ‘heaven-on-earth’ compound in Africa where they all drank his Kool-Aid and perished for the sake of being legitimate.

False Prophets Seek Power

In my life I have seen and experienced cults, false prophets, preachers, and politicians that said "follow us and you will become legitimate".

The rabble rousers of today are no different than those from the past. Their leaders are all narcissists. They all seek power. I repeat, They Seek Power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.


The sixth chapter of the Book of Proverbs in chapter 16 through 19 tells us of the seven things that are an abomination to God. These include wicked mindedness or those who are consumed with hate, unforgiveness, arrogance, are egotistical and narcissistic. God detests troublemakers who are quick to judge and cause mischief. These are schemers, and rumor mongers that provide fodder for 'tickling ears aka fake news. Another abomination to God are those that spread dissonance, discord, and disharmony. Does this all sound familiar?

Turn away from them. Think for yourself. Seek the truth. Shine a light on those that only offer darkness.

I have no idea of what it is like to be Black. The ages of poor treatment of Blacks is unfathomable. But I do know what it is like to be poor, live in lower income housing, and be looked down upon.

Racial differences are
biologically minor

I have friends, some of which have a different skin color than me. Some of those friends have a different hair texture than me, and some of them speak differently than me. Some of them are wealthy, some are poorer than me, but they are my friends. I do not see the skin color, or hair texture, wealth or voice. They are my friends.  I truly believe until everyone has this same attitude we will never achieve equality.

1960 Pravda Newspaper
featuring Khrushchev's speech

I know some of you are staunch Republicans and some of you are hardened Democrats and you have contrary views about the future of our nation. I would hope that you would weigh and measure all we are told on social media and in the media. Newspapers used to have an op-ed section to voice opinions, but lately the news on every platform has become entirely opinion based. There is little true news.

Be wise, and think for yourselves. Life and friendship are what matters. Do not hate each other over political differences. Love one another. Life is too brief.

This Too, Shall Pass

History shows us all this will soon pass. Stay safe people.

Lake Webegon - A Parody Of Real Life - Part Two

Well, it’s been a reasonably quiet week in Lake Webegon my little town, out here on the edge of the prairie. Especially after all the recent excitement when the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers rioted, vandalized, looted, and destroyed a lot of property here in the town. It's still just hard to believe that all happened, but it did.

At the July meeting of The Sons of Knute lodge member Ed Pedersen reported that the town sent a bill asking the membership to pay $150,000 to compensate the city for damaged property,  destruction, and the vandalism. Mayor Swenson even enclosed a personal note that said, “Don'cha' fellers know this just ain’t right, and you should chip in your fair share to repair the community."

Well this just rankled the membership something terrible.

Ollie Johnson stood up and said, “Da'  nerve of dem! Ve' here are barely scraping out a livin', and after all dat dere ruckus, dey still treat us like dirt. Vell I for one ain’t a-payin’ one thin dime to dem dare bums.”

Most all of the members agreed. And that was when the plan was hatched. The Norwegian Bachelor Farmers were going to make the town see their point and show them some respect.

This time of year the tomatoes and sweet corn were beginning to ripen, and so were the beans and potatoes. Most of those farmers sold their produce at the side of the road, but a few of the farmers actually drove into town and sold their vegetables right out of their trucks at the farmers market that was set up in a prominent section of town.

The Sons of Knute members that were Norwegian Bachelor Farmers decided that they were going to park their trucks in the middle of downtown Lake Webegon at the farmers market, and they were going to create an autonomous zone, where the police and town council would be forbidden to bother them, unless of course the police or town council were buying vegetables. They all agreed that they would just camp there until their demand for respect was met. They might just stay there forever, or at least until winter. That would teach the town to show them some respect.

It was too bad that Human Flag Event, which has always been a big Fourth of July event for the community, was canceled this year because of COVID and the need for social distancing. In fact, the entire towns Fourth of July picnic and festival was canceled along with all the events. However Ed Bunsen did put together a very nice fireworks display for his family. A lot of people showed up uninvited.  Ed said they could all stay but they had to wear masks, and maintain social distancing. All agreed it was the best fun they had so far all year.

The following day was when those farmers drove into town. There was no big announcement, but the town folk got suspicious around the third day, when the farmers hadn’t left. Some of those guys set up tents, but most just slept in their trucks.

The Norwegian Bachelor Farmers planned to clean up, as best Norwegian Bachelor Farmers do, by using the facilities at Jack’s Auto Repair in the rear building where Jack’s Lounge ("a rest spa for the ages") is located., Those guys were too embarrassed or ashamed to go to The Sidetrack Tap, or The Chatterbox Cafe to use the facilities or to even get a beer.

Soon some makeshift signs were made on four by eight plywood boards that read  “Dis Here Zone is Occupied by da "NORBS”, which one of them thought was a great acronym for ‘NORwegian Bachelor Sector”. It also said, “No Cops Allowed…except for dos' paying with cash”.

Pastor Liz from Lake Webegon Lutheran Church had been a veteran of sit-ins and protests from back in her days at City Lutheran Theological Seminary in Wisconsin, when they were demanding equal rights for women pastors, and the right to use the New American Standard Bible instead of the Revised Standard Version. She organized the ladies auxiliary to put together some hot dish suppers for what she said was "those poor oppressed farmers."

Some nights Pastor Liz would visit NORBS and try to lead them in song by singing 'We Shall Overcome', and 'Kumbaya', although the farmers would have far preferred singing the 'Too Fat Polka', or 'In Heaven There Is No Beer'. Pastor Liz said she was sorry but didn't know how to play those songs on her ukulele.'

Within a couple of days Mayor Swenson began to get concerned about the whole situation. After all, these smelly farmers were encamped just a block away from the courthouse and he felt it was a blight on his city.

So he went to try to try to reason with the group. He walked over to the NORBS zone and asked them when they were going to pay that one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars and when would they be leaving. He also wanted the  farmers assurance that they were not going to trash or destroy anymore property.  But the farmers just taunted him and wouldn't even let him cross into the NORBS section of town. They told him to go away. The angry mayor became red-faced and walked off in a huff.

That is when he called Ed and Joe, the sheriffs from Mist County to come into the town to remove the farmers. Once again those fellows arrived and then walked over to the NORBS zone, eyeballed the situation and said they did not see a police problem. However they did purchase a big sack of homegrown tomatoes and six ears of sweet corn, and then they walked down to the Sidetrack Tap and had a couple of beers before heading back home in their cruiser.

By then word had spread through town that the farmers had hijacked the farmers market. Some of the town folks were even feeling sympathetic.

The Lutheran Church was holding their Zoom Vacation Bible School, and the ladies that were teaching the class felt a group activity for the kids was necessary. So the ladies decided if the kids promised to stay six feet away from each other and wear masks they could all get together and paint a mural.

The kids with their teachers walked downtown to the autonomous zone. They gave each child some colored chalk and they had the little guys draw NBFLM (Norwegian Bachelor Farmers Lives Matter) in big 10 foot block letters right there on the street in the NORBS zone.

As you can imagine when Mayor Swenson saw NBFLM in huge letters right there on the same street as the courthouse he became livid and went into a rage.

Well the local baseball team, The Whippets, were anxious to get together to play some games down at Wally Old Hard Hands Bunsen Memorial Field. The league sponsors, Bunsen Motors and Krebsbach Chevrolet, wanted the season to begin too. After all they paid for all the uniforms and the equipment. So a shortened season was decided on, and the other local minor league teams agreed to the terms. The players would all need to wear masks, and the seats in the bleachers would be marked so only family members could sit together. Everyone else would have to sit six feet apart.

The first game was played on July 26th and it was a night game. The concession stand was only allowed to sell beer and pop in bottles, but no food or popcorn.

Everyone seemed happy, however the team and the fans receive a shock when the cover was lifted off  the field.

In place of the usual logo, the head of a big white Whippet, all eyes gazed upon the freshly painted letters, "NBFLM" in huge white block script.

Then the American flag was raised and everyone stood up to sing. A quartet of band members from Lake Webegon High School began to play.

But instead of the Star Spangled Banner, those kids started playing 'In Heaven There Is No Beer', the Norwegian bachelor's favorite song. The crowd burst into laughter, and sang along with the second verse, which just goes, la,la-la-la, la, la.  After that the National Anthem was played.

Well, since both of the sponsors had been targets of the Norwegian bachelor farmers' vandalism, Ed Bunsen, and the two Krebsbach men threw their programs on the ground and vented their anger at Tom Olsen, the manager. "How could this happen?  Who was responsible? What were you thinking !?"

Tom claimed he had no idea who was behind the painting on the field, or the song. He would look into it, and he assured this would not happen again. He suspected it was a high school prank.

The game was went on as scheduled with no more incidents. The Whippets beat The Saint Cloud Schnauzers ten to nothing. Everyone had a good time except for Ed Bunsen, and Florian and Carl Krebsbach.

Everything seemed to be going in the farmers favor until the following week arrived. That's when the big rains came. This was a huge mid-summer storm which went on for the entire week with no let up.

No one in town was leaving their homes to even go shopping. The Whippets next two games were rained out and rescheduled.

The hot dish suppers quit arriving. Pastor Liz even quit coming to NORBS for visits. The NBFLM colored chalk mural on the road washed away.

The rain soaked farmers were tired of the rain, and tired of sleeping out every night.  They just wanted to get back to their farms to clean out the weeds in their drenched gardens.

So those farmers packed up all the remaining produce, took down their tents, tarps, and the plywood signs. They figured the plywood might come in handy some day. Without saying a word, they just all drove off.

They might be back next week, but only for a day to sell some produce.

So that's the news from Lake Webegon, where all the men are good looking, all the women are strong, all the children are above average, and things are starting to get back to normal. But we will see.

Lake Webegon - A Parody Of Real Life - Part One

Lake Webegon - My Little Town

I wish I could say that It’s been a quite week in Lake Webegone, my little town, out here on the edge of the prairie, however it has anything but quiet ever since the night of the Norwegian Bachelor Farmer Rebellion. I know it is hard to believe that those quiet farmers that usually keep to themselves would go berserk, but they did. That was the day those guys decided they just were sick and tired of being treated like second class citizens. And that was the night when the violence, rioting and looting began.

This all started last March when the shelter in place order went into effect because of the Corona virus pandemic. Although shelter in place was the actual lifestyle of the farmers, they were not going to have some uppity politicians telling them that the HAD to shelter in place.

So on a Friday night in mid June, at the monthly Sons of Knute meeting, Ed Pedersen spoke up saying, "I ain't havin' no part of dis here damn Coroney nonsense, and neither is my neighbor, Sig Nilsen, and ve ain't gonna' be vearin' no damned masks".

Nilsen then got up to voice his opinion by saying, "Dem dang townsfolk been prejudiced against us bachelor farmers for years.  Dey look down upon us. Dey make fun of us for maintaining the old Norwegian ways. Dey tease us 'cause we ain't got no wives!  And now dey vant us to vear some doggone doctor mask when ve are a- goin' to da' feed store. I for one am jus' sick and tired of da' whole damn bunch uh dem!"

A hearty cry of support erupted from all those present and that set off a powder keg with all the group to do something about the situation.

So a very angry farmer contingent rose up in mass that night and they all marched into town carrying pitchforks, axe handles, and torches, intent on venting their shared anger.

Well it was just pretty bleak folks, and everything just went down hill from there.

Florian Krebsbach and his son Carl were working late that night when they saw the mob coming. They tried their best to stand their ground at the family's Chevrolet dealership, but it was useless. Windows were broken, cars were vandalized, even the classic ‘57 Chevy Impala on display inside the dealer ship was set on fire.

Ed and Joe, the sheriffs from Mist County were then called in by a very angry Florian. When the two cops saw what was going on they threw up their hands, and walked down to the Sidetrack Tap for a couple of beers. They figured this would settle down shortly without any of their help.

About that same time the rioting farmers arrived at that very same tavern where they ordered the owners; Wally and Evelyn, the two cops; Ed and Joe, and everyone else to get the heck out. The angry mob then looted and pilfered The Sidetrack. Beers were passed out to the mob, who by now were thirsty not just for vengeance, but for a few cold ones as well.

Next the forty or maybe fifty angry farmers, who were now full of liquid courage turned their attention to Bertha’s Kitty Boutique where they trashed the place, freed all the cats and spread catnip everywhere, much to the delight of the escaped kitties.

Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery was the next to be vandalized. The windows of that establishment were broken, supplies were looted, and the building was spray painted with angry slogans stating "Ralph was neither pretty nor good".

Bunsen Motors was not immune to the farmers’ ire. That business was trashed, looted, and all the tractor batteries went missing.

The out of control mob of angry farmers marched down the street to Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility Church where they vandalized that building. The slogan” NBFLM” (Norwegian Bachelor Farmers Lives Matter) was spray painted on the the churches' walls. The statue of St. Olaf was toppled, crushed and burned. A frightened Father Wilmer hid inside the rectory, clutching his rosary and praying.

Carl Yoder, one of the bachelor farmers stopped the group short of pulling down the nearby stature of The Unknown Norwegian by reminded them, “ Hey, he’s one of our own”. But someone decided it still might be a good idea to spray paint "NBFLM" on the statues chest to remind folks that "NBFLM".

I found it odd that the mob of vengeful Norwegian bachelor farmers marched right past the Lake Webegon Lutheran church. About a week afterward I asked one of them why?

Farmer Hans Yoder told me, "Vell don'cha know they got dis here nice lady pastor dere. She's real nice and prolly woulda' ask us all into da' church for coffee an' cookies. Den she'd wanna' keep us dere for one of dem dere 'rap sessions' don'cha know. Vell ve all veren't up for dat sort of thing. So ve jus' kept a-valkin'  down dere street."

Getting back to the story, that night Harold Star the owner, writer, and sole employee of the local newspaper, 'The Herald Star', had arrived on the scene with his notebook and a freshly sharpened #2 pencil. He realized this was a really big story; bigger than just a puff piece for a local paper. So he took out his flip phone and called the St. Cloud television station, WCLD.

Within thirty minutes the TV stations reporters arrived and set up a national feed.  The story was about to go out to the nation's news service.

It was about this then that the farmers were headed to The Chatterbox Café to trash, vandalize, loot it, and perhaps grab a few more cold ones.

Well, I don’t know if it was the lights and cameras, or perhaps it was the shyness of those farmers, many of whom were now being approached by attractive lady reporters that were asking them for interviews, or perhaps those guys just got tired of all the attention, or maybe they just got plain tired, I don't know what it was, but those angry farmers started to disperse and head home. And they have not been seen since.

The town has applied for federal funds to rebuild, but were turned down.

The Krebsbach family got some help from Chevrolet to repair the damage to their business, but the '57 Impala was beyond repair.  Bunsen Motors received help from Ford.

Bertha's Kitty Boutique has closed for good. Bertha is taking the insurance money and retiring to St. Petersburg where her daughter lives.

Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery has reopened as Ralph's Pretty Good Convenience Store and is being run by the Patel family, who recently moved to Lake Webegon from Chicago. Ralph decided he just had enough and sold the business. Bishar Patel decided to keep the American name Ralph for the store instead of calling it Bishar's Pretty Good Convenience Store.

Wally and Evelyn decided they were too old to do anything else. They rebuilt the Sidetrack Tap. The clock is still slow, and the pinball machine is still in the corner. Wear a mask.

Fortunately the Chatterbox never was damaged since the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers got distracted. LuAnn said the pie for the week is peach and it's pretty good.

Bob’s Bank, in the green mobile home, has been besieged with loan requests. Ed’s Insurance and Liquor Outlet has been paying out claims and selling more than a few bottles of Old Grand Pappy to very upset customers.

Right now no one knows if the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers will be reprimanded or even held responsible.

The one thing we do know is the group has created a created a blog; NBFLM. blogspot.com and they have written a very stern letter to their congressmen.

So that’s the news from Lake Webegon, where all the men are good looking, all the women are strong, all the children above average, and most all of the businesses are in need of major repairs.

Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone (recent)

Ennio Morricone, passed away on July 6th 2020 at age 91. He was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player who wrote music in a wide range of styles, but is best known for his movie scores.

Ennio Morricone

Maestro Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. His composition and score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is considered one of the most influential soundtracks in history.

Ocarina - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Morricone’s works are easily recognizable due to their unusual orchestration, use of non-orchestral instruments such as clap sticks, ocarina, harmonica, electric guitar and bass, jews harp and other instruments. His works also include choirs singing nonsense lyrics and vowels, and routinely feature sopranos singing but without lyrics.

Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars

Morricone scored all 70 award winning films produced by Sergio Leone starting with A Fistful of Dollars.

He went on to write for Giuseppe Tonatore’s films beginning with Cinema Paradiso.

Morricone Composing

He composed music for such films as  The Battle of Algiers, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, several major films in French cinema, in particular the comedy trilogy La Cage aux Folles I, II, III and Le Professionnel, as well as The Thing, Once Upon a Time in America, The Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Bugsy, Disclosure, In the Line of Fire, Bulworth, Ripley's Game and The Hateful Eight.

Some of his work was ghost written.

Ennio Morricone

His recorded works have sold in the millions worldwide and he has received numerous awards and accolades from all over the world.

Maestro Morricone has conducted his music with orchestras all over the world.