respublica

No coffee for the grieving

Came across this the other day. A pastor recently moved to Connecticut and was about to officiate at his first funeral in that state. He asked the funeral home director if he could have a cup of coffee before meeting with the family and was told Connecticut law forbids food or drink except for water in funeral homes. 

I found this surprising as did the pastor. After looking this up I found that this is indeed a law in that state as well as three other states: New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. These laws went into effect in the 60's and as one story puts it, "No one is exactly sure why they were put in place." 

There seems to be several food issues going on. Funeral homes providing actual food service and families bringing in some food to tide them over during long visitation hours. But neither is legal in the above states including even a cup of coffee whether from a pot at the funeral home or brought in by a family member.

Err Err Err err

Having early morning coffee in Collinsville to the sound of roosters crowing from a couple different directions. Pretty amusing.

Wild and not so wild animals

A Grand Rapids Michigan animal control guy thought he'd come across a tiger sitting on someone's driveway so he grabbed a pole and a shield, called the police. While he considered how to approach the tiger, a neighbor realized that....

it was a stuffed tiger.

Give the guy credit for not having too much pride to be photographed with what will probably be an endless source of jokes directed toward him for some time. 

In other wild animal news, Critter Control came by our house....again. This time the agent told us she believes any groundhog who had lived under our backyard is probably gone. How she knows this we don't know, but at least we're done having the company cart off raccoons.

Wild and not so wild animals

A Grand Rapids Michigan animal control guy thought he'd come across a tiger sitting on someone's driveway so he grabbed a pole and a shield, called the police. While he considered how to approach the tiger, a neighbor realized that....

it was a stuffed tiger.

Give the guy credit for not having too much pride to be photographed with what will probably be an endless source of jokes directed toward him for some time. 

In other wild animal news, Critter Control came by our house....again. This time the agent told us she believes any groundhog who had lived under our backyard is probably gone. How she knows this we don't know, but at least we're done having the company cart off raccoons.

Weeds

The number of weeds which grow unabated in any one yard or garden is without number and almost impossible to eliminate. I've been watching our flower beds and lawns recently and am constantly taken aback by how quickly these weeds multiply. If you don't at least hack them back, they'll take over within weeks.

Locally you find the always nasty Creeping Charlie, Dandelions, nut sedge, mulberry tree seedlings, violets, vine types, wild mustard, stink weed which will get 8 feet tall if you don't hack it back,

and one like this which I've learned can ease the itching from mosquito bites. Crumble up one of the leaves and rub it on the bite.

Also, I count as weeds, euonymus and various ivies which strangle trees and will grow up and on and into homes if left alone. Honeysuckle takes over as well and while the blooms smell sweet, if you don't try and get rid of it (good luck) you'll soon find your yard or fence has disappeared.

Then there are these uninvited guests which grow 6 feet tall almost over night, have a red stem which mature and mulitply.

Organically, no one likes herbicides or pesticides, but how in the world can we get on top of these things? I keep hoping someday someone will point out a great use for all these characters which grow taller, faster and in greater numbers than flowers and grass.

About that tuna

This month's Consumer Reports has an article about the safety issues in tuna along with recommendations on just how much or what kind of tuna is best to eat.

Albacore white tuna may seem the best but it actually has higher levels of mercury than the regular canned light tuna. Mercury is especially dangerous for pregnant women and young children. This also applies to yellow fin and other fish used in sushi.

Actually, it looks as though mercury is high in lots of fish.

Also the latest issue has a rather icky story on shrimp and the strong possibility of bacteria that can be found on them. Seems a huge amount of our shrimp comes from overseas, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Ecuador, Vietnam, Thailand and Argentina, all bred in ponds. Some of the contamination found on shrimp was, vibrio, staphylococcus aureus, E. Coli, listeria, and salmonella. The percent of any of these ranged from 83 percent to 20 percent. The US bred shrimp had the least, while Bangladesh had the most.

Not a fun story at all. Consumer Reports does not feature their stories on their website, but requires a subscription. The magazine is on newsstands. I got mine at Schnucks.

Off to Israel

For the second year in a row, a number of Concordia Seminary students are going to Israel for an in depth study of Biblical history. Under the leadership of Pastor Tom Zelt of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fremont California, who has been to Israel over 25 times, the primary goals of the course is to study the Bible within the context of the geography of the Holy Land and to develop new preaching and teaching skills based on their experiences. One of last year's students wrote: "This class and tour has been one of the most formative experiences in my seminary education. I read, reflect on, and teach the Bible in a whole new way."

I was able to catch them for a group picture early this morning as they loaded up for the airport.

They began with a prayer.

Oddly our two campus ducks decided to walk up and say good-bye. This was a very unusual ocurrence, these ducks normally give us a wide birth.

God speed, everyone.

Just when you thought traveling through St. Louis couldn't get any worse

MoDOT headline: MoDOT plans ramp closures, lane shifts along Poplar Street Bridge

The story following this headline is filled with so much convoluted detail it is almost indecipherable. At 9 am this, at 8 pm that. 55 this, 44 that, add Route 3 and the Poplar- the Poplar with lanes shifting, lanes closing.

As if the bottleneck on the westbound bridge hasn't had its many moments already this year, we'll be seeing more craziness. Every single year. Every single year summer travel to and from Illinois to Missouri is mucked up.

Do we really need a self-parking car?

Well, maybe sometimes we do as when we just have to grab that close up spot on a street which requires pulling up next to the car in front of the spot, backing up and turning the wheel at just the right time to slide into it. This is the hardest parking type around and often you'll see a vehicle much too big for the size of the open space trying its hardest to maneuver in.

Anyway, there is a prototype self-parking car now. It was demonstrated down in the Dominican Republic the other day and things did not go as advertised. The vehicle quickly picked up speed and slammed into journalists documenting the demo.

In any event, maybe this is the future, maybe it isn't. I'm not mentally ready for a self parking car, actually.

Those unkind squirt guns

Some days it seems the world has gone nuts. 

The Boy Scouts have officially banned squirt guns because they deemed them unkind and part of the Boy Scout's pledge is "A scout is kind." What the heck?  And, this also applies to water balloons.

"The new rule for water balloons dictates their size and origin — no more puffed up balls of latex for traditional water balloon fights. For water balloons, use small, biodegradable balloons, and fill them no larger than a ping pong ball."

Next we'll have a no snow ball rule.