July 5
Meat with Names and Other Short Observations

Among the really annoying things that farm visitors say to me is "I could never eat an animal I raised myself, especially if it had a name." To them I have only this to say: Donner Party, Alfred Packer, Venezuelan soccer team.

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I kept a dream diary for a while...just ran into it. Two stand out. The first was a dream in which I was planting flowers. I turned around and there was the man I was seeing at the time laughing and pulling them all up as fast as I planted them. Didn't need any $150/hr. shrink for that one.

The second dream had me running for my life from something. Now, when I was a child and having a dream of this kind, my legs would become leaden. In the adult version I suddenly realized that I was supposed to be over at someone's house and must find a phone. I am running for my life and looking for a phone booth. As a friend of mine used to say, "A mind is a terrible thing."

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The Lutheran church I attended in Alaska had a minister who didn't mince words, which is probably why he was sent to Alaska. Just before I moved there, he had officiated at the funeral of a woman who had died as a result of alcoholism. In the service, the pastor had not only made mention of the cause of death, he had cited her family's failure to get the woman some help. It was quite a funeral.

Previously, the minister had performed a wedding ceremony during which it was noted by him that the bride and groom had not only already produced their own flower girl, but were expecting again, though this baby would at least be legitimate. Barely.

I don't know if the rate of pregnancy among unwed Lutherans plummeted after that wedding, but I do know that in spite of marginal medical care and a congregation with some Sourdoughs who were older than dirt and none too healthy, no Lutherans died in the town during the year I lived there.

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Saints celebrating feast days on July 5 include Antony Zaccaria, Athanasius the Athonite, and Zoe.

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Birthdays today include Sylvester Graham (inventor of Graham crackers, 1794), Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810), Katherine Helmond (1929), and Shirley Knight (1936).
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As far as events go, the day after the 4th of July is bereft of anything of significance and has only one celebration that is amusing. Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Clare, Michigan, hosts the annual International Cherry Spitting Contest. The rules state that the contestants spit their pits on a blacktop surface and that the measured distance includes the roll.

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© Marilyn Jones 2000-2008