Choose Me
It is the freedom to choose that makes mankind different from the animal and was the freedom to choose that caused the fall of mankind. In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam the freedom to eat of every tree in the garden except one. It was the only limitation that God gave to mankind. God walked with Adam and Eve every day. In the cool of the evening God strolled through the garden and fellowshipped with them. Adam named all of the animals and plants that surrounded him and God saw that it was good. Satan was subtle and approached Eve. He twisted God’s word about the forbidden fruit and beguiled her into taking a bite. When she did, her eyes were opened and she was aware of sin. She took the fruit to her husband and shared the fruit with him. Adam named all of the plants. I’m sure he recognized the fruit and yet he chose to disobey God and also ate of the forbidden fruit. It was his choice to obey God or to disobey God. Since then mankind has tasted death and had to deal with sin in the world.
Mankind still has to make that choice today. God gave mankind the freedom to choose. The person must choose whether to follow God’s word or follow the path to self-destruction. Will a person choose to smoke, drink alcohol, or use drugs? Will a person choose to marry or not to marry?  Will a person choose to buy a car or to buy a house? Will a person choose to have a family or not.
Today there are choices that are being foisted on the American public as being acceptable when they are in direct contradiction to God’s word. The Bible tells that men shouldn’t wear women’s clothing and women not to wear men’s attire. Same sex partners are also forbidden. Sex outside of marriage is also decried and wrong. Murder is another taboo, and yet there are those who have changed the wording to “Pro-choice” in an attempt to make the killing of infants more palatable. Pedophilia is another evil forbidden by God’s word. It would be better for the person who harms a child to have a millstone tied to his neck and cast into the ocean.
The most important choice is whether or not you accept the gift of salvation or not. Accepting Jesus Christ as Savior is the difference between spending an eternity in Heaven or Hell. The choice is yours. Decide before it’s too late.

Catch a Falling Star
Almost seventy years ago, the song “Catch a Falling Star and put it in your pocket.” It was a catchy little ditty that was sung by many artists. In 1958, one of the most prominent artists to release it was Perry Como. His crooning voice made the song a hit.
I have no idea what its actual meaning is, but for myself it means to capture moments in time before they fall away into obscurity. Like meteors that streak brightly across the dark night sky, memories flare intensely for a moment before they begin to fade and finally disappear. So many things that my dad, Carl Beck and my mom Sybil Miner Beck have said or done have now slipped into dark crevices and may never be recalled again. Many stories of my grandparents Edson and Anna Kalp Beck and Ray and Rebecca Rugg Miner have been lost to my recollection. Sometimes someone will breathe on the embers of a memory and I can quickly fan it into a flame. When that occurs, I hurridly write about it in my BlogSpot. I try to recall as many of the facts from the incident before it dies completely. Sometimes it’s not entirely accurate and another relative will furnish more facts. I will go back and correct the mistake or expand the scope of the story. I am trying to pass the torch to my children and grandchildren.
I wish that I would have paid closer attention to the details that were passed down in an oral tradition. It’s a struggle to record pieces of my heritage and pass it on so my children and grandchildren will have them. I don’t have the patience or the ability to do the research of the genealogy of our family, like some do. I let that task to others. To me, that path is dry and dusty. I try to remove the cobwebs of a family’s history and add flesh to skeletons of the past. I like to stir family histories and make readings of them more interesting and complete.
Catching a falling star is what I am attempting to do. I want to create a verbal picture to share the beauty, the sadness, and the joy of our family’s past. I share some of my own stories of my life from the time of my youth, through school, enlistment in the Navy, college, and days of work. Not too long ago I shared a story that I hadn’t shared with my children. They were surprised to hear that when I was in the Navy my “friends” planned to kill me thinking I was a snitch, but as you can see, they didn’t.
 

The Belt May Be Slipping
I’m not missing a cog…YET, but the belt that powers my machine’s brain is certainly slipping. All this week I have been either one day ahead or one behind. Not only was I thinking a Wednesday was a Tuesday, but today I almost missed an appointment with my dietician because I marked the appointment on my pocket calendar, but also in my cell phone reminder that it was for Friday. Alex my dietician called a few minutes after the time of my appointment and asked if I missed it and did I want to reschedule. I said, “No I can be there in about 15 minutes as long as it doesn’t interfere with another appointment.” When we agreed to keep the appointment, but a bit late, he said not to rush. I laughed and said that he was the Russian. That’s because his mother country is Russia. I’m sure he groaned, but was too much of a gentleman to admit it. I made it to his office and we focused on ways to improve my diet.
My cholesterol filled meals seem to be lessening, but he’s still not pleased with my carbohydrate consumption. If I can develop better habits there, it will help to control my blood sugars and my weight. I’m an insulin-taking diabetic. There is one thing that I’m glad about; I only have to inject myself once each day. Another blessing is that the needles have advanced to a 32 gage. That is a very thin needle. They are also only 4 mm long.
Giving myself injections was one of the reasons I never wanted to use insulin, but when I was told that insulin was necessary, I acquiesced. As Naval corpsman and a nurse, I’ve seen some of those needles we had to use. But some of longer and larger bore needles are necessary to inject thick medications deep into the muscle tissue where the medication can be absorbed properly. Other large bore needles are necessary to start intravenous fluids and medications. When a person needs large amounts of fluids, a smaller needle just won’t do. If a person has lost a lot of blood, copious amounts of fluids and replacement blood must be rapidly infused to save their life.
I’m praying that I can get my brain back on the right track next week, but I doubt it. The next few weeks will be eaten up with picking vegetables and canning them and in the confusion, I will probably lose track of time again. Any housecleaners/ secretaries available? I’m liable to need booth.

Lonely Days and Lonely Nights
The forced isolation, the mandated covering of faces with masks, threats of job loss, and social distancing from the corona virus has created a serious problem. Mankind is a social creature. The old adage of “No man is an island” is true. Depression and the suicide rates have risen tremendously with the “mandates” of the Federal and State government during the “epidemic.” The most grievous thing is that the inoculations, the social distancing, the masks, and closing schools and work places have done little more than extend the impact of the corona virus. This isolation and loneliness is crippling millions.
The corona virus is so microscopic that masks did little to stop the virus unless someone coughed or sneezed in someone’s face. The information about the immunization did little to prevent the spread of the virus and the medications to curtail and treat the disease did more harm than good. There are many other illnesses and organ failure that comes with the inoculation. There haven’t been extended time trials to study the vaccine and its long term effects. The only way laboratories could have readied the vaccine was to have known about the virus before it “burst on the scene.” Medication that was pooh-poohed by scientists actually works.
Imposed internet schooling has been a failure on so many levels, but the most appalling is that kids need to learn social skills and how to live with others. Now they have limited interactions with their peers. Without support from others of their own age, it has become a flaw in their character.
The isolation can cause feelings of loneliness. It can come from a sudden intense emotion at the loss of a loved one. The grieving person has to reshape their life. Friends often fall away because those bonds have been broken. The grieving person often becomes the third wheel on a bicycle.
Loneliness can invade slowly, an insidious malicious entity that robs the peace and joy in a person’s life. A cloud thickens until it blots out the world around them. Depression sets in. The loss of a job, loss of possessions, an injury or an illness may isolate a person from their surroundings as did the mandated isolation.
Loneliness can present itself when a certain song is played or a meaningful phrase is repeated. A certain smell can also stir a wave on loneliness. It may be as intense as the initial loss of a parent, partner, or close friend.
A possible cure, don’t expect a stranger to come to you. Reach out to others. You may find some folk are as lonely as you. They may be looking for a friend too. 

Less Than Five Years Ago
What has happened to the United States? So much has changed in the last five years. I can hardly believe the road Liberals are pushing America down. Federal and State Government have created confusion and anarchy. It’s my belief that the government wants to control all aspects of our lives; from electricity and fuel to the lives of our children. One of the worst thing parents have done is to allow the government to “educate” our future generations. They have removed Bible truths and tried to replace it with laws. We’ve allowed the desecration of Old Glory, the history and respect for our country, by sowing seeds of discord and division. The teaching of CRT is inciting more division between Americans based on the color of their skin. If that isn’t enough, they are trying to instill Socialistic ideas where all citizens are equal throughout their life, robbing from the rich to support the poor. The equality the Constitution promotes the idea that folk have an equal chance to advance throughout their lifetime not equal at the end.
Parents are now condemned as terrorists by requiring school boards and teachers to be transparent about the curricula in their classrooms. There should be cooperation on what is being taught. Unfortunately the government wants complete control of a child and the parents will end up having no rights like so many Communist countries.
Pornography has been placed on the shelves of grade school libraries. Sexual ideas shouldn’t be taught to kids in the first and second grade. Kids have enough problems deciding on what to eat or what to wear. And any teachers who will share their political views or sexual preferences should immediately have their teaching credentials removed and should be fired. It’s indoctrination and the grooming of children for politicians and pedophiles. Kids at that age are learning to read and write. They shouldn’t be bombarded with gender fluidity. At this age children have ideations of make-believe. A child may take on the persona of being a monkey, lion, or bear. It is false when they are being taught that a person’s feelings are equal to facts.
The government imposed covid rules and regulations that have isolated children from their peers and caused irreparable damage to the child’s social skills and psyche. Internet classes have lowered the child’s ability to learn from home. Common Core math has added insult to injury. Most parents have no idea what this idea is and can’t help their children when problems arise. What am I trying to say? It’s time to reduce the size and influence of the government before we lose our children forever.

 

Back in the Garden Again
Well it’s that time again. We are harvesting the vegetables that were planted last spring. Two of my friends have large gardens and need help with the canning. Last year we did over 11,000 jars of food: Half gallons, quarts, pints and jelly jars. The size of the container depends on what kind of food we have to put inside. We have even more jars stored in the attic, so only God knows how much we will be canning this year.
We are on our way. Yesterday we canned pickled beets and pickled beans (we call them dilly bean.) Earlier we pickle cucumbers into all sorts of flavors. They are pickling in their brine, kosher dill pickle spears, bread & butter pickles, and sweet pickle slices. We’ve done three bushels of peaches in preserves and peach slices. We have done a variety of beans: yellow wax beans and green beans canned to be reheated and eaten when desired. We pickled yellow wax beans and green beans in brine with a teaspoon of dry Italian dressing mix. They are very delicious. My favorite thing we can is “Marie’s Pepper Mix.” It was a recipe given to me by a dear widow lady friend Marie Ohler. The recipe consists of ketchup, oil, sugar, onions, and hot and green bell peppers. It is a great topping for hamburgers, or a roasting sauce for beef or chicken. It makes a great sloppy Joe mix for burger. I have been splitting a crusty bread loaf, buttering each slice, and drowning it in a skillet, almost like the bread for a grilled cheese sandwich. I will put the pepper mix on it to eat like brochette. It is so good.
We have gathered some blackberries to make blackberry preserves, some half the amount of sugar for diabetics like me and another lady. We have a good running start with preserving the garden’s bounty, but the tomatoes haven’t started to ripen yet. We have salsa and tomato sauce yet to make. The corn stalks are developing their ears. We have butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, and more beets. The pepper plants and tomato plants are hanging heavy with ripening fruits.
There are zucchini, pumpkins and melons spreading their leaves and shading their bounty beneath. Snap peas are climbing their trellis and sending out shoots to climb ever higher. On a nearby farm, we have access to a pear tree and an apple tree that have limbs that are drooping with the weight of the apples and pears. God has been bountiful this year, I pray He gives us the strength and time to store His blessings.

Sharing Memories with Friends and Workmates
I was at Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania yesterday to have some more testing done. The person who was doing the testing was a workmate of mine when I was employed there. She and I shared some stories. I know that I’ve shared this story before, but it was one that I shared with her. I gave her one of my business cards and invited her to read my blog.
This story wasn’t quite a ghost story, but it answers if I ever saw ghosts when I worked on the third floor. I also told her I’d not seen any ghosts, but I did hear footsteps occasionally. I’ll repeat it so she can share it with other friends.
I’d just taken the body of a deceased person to the morgue and placed the cart in the cooler. I was recording information in the log when I heard voices in the storeroom through a connecting vent high on the wall. It was our maintenance man Frank and Nicole one of the female central supply techs. They were retrieving a bariatric bed. Bariatric beds are oversized beds for the larger patients. These beds were stored directly beneath the vent.
I moved across the morgue until I was underneath the vent. I cupped my hands around my mouth and making a funnel I moaned, “W-O-O-O-O-O-O! W-O-O-O-O-O!”
They immediately they stopped talking. Then I heard Nicole ask, “Frank, did you hear that!”
When Frank didn’t answer right away, she persisted, “Did you hear that?”
Frank said “Yes! Yes I did.”
“What was that?” She asked.
I heard Frank shush her.
They were quiet and I could tell they were listening. So I waited. When I heard them start to move the bed in the next room, I again moaned, “W-O-O-O-O-O! W-O-O-O-O-O!”
Nicole said, “Let’s get out of here!” I heard the supply room door pop open and the bed rolling out of the room at a high rate of speed.
Later, I met Frank in the hallway and told him what I had done. He laughed and said, “I didn’t know what that noise was. I knew the morgue was next door, so I thought at first it could have been a ghost. The second time you moaned, Nicole’s eyes bugged out. She grabbed my arm and almost climbed up onto my shoulders. I think she would have if I would have let her.”
We never told Nicole and  if you read this, I apologize.