In the early 80s I worked at the Michigan Bell Telephone Company for a very wise, very sharing, lady.  I was First Line management when she was in charge of the office in which I worked.  She also was in charge of the training of myself and my peers, who, in turn, were responsible for training the people who observed the performance of operators and equipment for the company.

When I first met Bernice Ford she was my first woman of color as my manager.  I thought, ‘Here is a taskmaster, someone who has worked very hard to get to where she is and is probably somewhat difficult to please.’  I was wrong about her.  She took each of us and worked with our weaknesses, pointed out our strong points, and developed us into the leaders we needed to be. 

Over the years we have both retired, but have kept in touch with phone calls, Christmas cards, and now by e-mail.  A couple of months ago Jay and I sent a package of homemade jams to her.  Jay had also worked with her during his career inside the telephone company. 

So today in the mail came a package with a beautiful candle in it from Bernice as a thank you for the jam we sent.  No other manager in my 29 year career at Michigan Bell and later for 12 years with the Oakland Press ever has made such an impression on me.  No other manager has bothered to stay in touch with me. 

I am blessed to have Bernice in my past and still in touch today! 

My Mom said smile but this is the best I can do when I’m all wet is what Spirit seems to say.

Echo seems to say who can smile when the old gal dumps you in a laundry tub and cheerfully says it is bath time !

Yes that is exactly what I did because tomorrow morning we head for the Vets to be trimmed again.  Spirit, my younger African Gray, is the talker in our house.  Echo is older, blind in one eye when we got her, not much for handling, but she will give you a nibble on the back of your hand (that we call a kiss) when you feed her.  She will call to you once in a while (somewhat like a coo only stronger).  Just two more of the little hearts that beat in Momma’s Corner

A phone call to Ormond Beach this afternoon brought some good news to our family.  My youingest brother Dan, his wife Peg, their daughters, son-in-laws, and grandchildren are all residents of the Sunshine State.  It is, as you know in the middle of some really bad weather, but everyone is safe.  Dan’s home is still in good shape.  All three families on using generators for power, the everyday routine is not an option at the moment but they are coping well.

My sister-in-law said that they are now waiting for Ivan (the next storm) to hit.  We up here in Michigan will try to keep in touch with them to monitor the conditions. So far so good!

I remember the old days when the Labor Day weekend meant the last time to go up North to the property in Grayling, or a trip around the lakeshore of Michigan, or just a good picnic with family before we settled in to working all winter and the children returned to school.

I find it hard to celebrate Labor Day now that so many jobs have not only left the North but have left the nation.  The response being,“well nobody wants to work anymore”.  Well I guess nobody wants to work for peanuts and so so the big companies want to go where they will.

  We talk of needing to produce our own oil so we don’t have to depend on other countries and yet we send our jobs over there.  Wow that makes sense doesn’t it!  If it were not for a major recession I would love to see this whole job exporting blow up in their faces!! 

The loyalty that we gave to our employers disappeared when they started downsizing, taking away job training, and trying to become a leaner, meaner business.  Well Business you got lazy employees because you offered them no security, no lifetime career, and then started taking away benefits that had been won over the years. 

The Labor Unions also did their share to bring this situation into being.  Many tried to be what they started out to be, guardians of the working people, but others let power go to their heads and pushed for things that did nothing except rankle the companies they went after.

Yes I’d like to say Labor Day is to be celebrated but for what?  So I’ll just say be careful out there this weekend!

ALERT!
This is a Birthday Police Alert!  It has come to our attention that there are two suspects in this photograph who are in violation of the Truth In Age Telling Law!!!  Both of these violaters have publicly flaunted the fact that they don’t care about the Truth In Age Law!  I can hear them saying something like,“We don’t need no steenking law!”  They are maybe even laughing as we accuse them right now! 

Well I say this blatant ignoring of this law must cease and desist immediately! 

Lesley Troy aka The Stupid Evil Bastard and Cynthia Catherine aka Cindyism must reveal their true ages on their blogs within the next seven days or a warrant stating their are “Sneaky Petes” will be issued by their mean old vengeful Momma because nobody should be allowed to masquerade as younger then they actually are!!

Never fear I will be watching your blogs and you are gonna get it if you don’t do right!  MOMMA SAYS!!!

A little bit of news on this September Morn!

Well since our last visit we have seen both of Jay’s eye doctors and both are happy with his progress!  But believe me not near as happy as he is.  His outlook on life has improved 150% since the cataract surgery!  This is a far cry from a year ago when he started complaining about the lighting in the house and then at Thanksgiving was going blind. but vetrectomy and cataract surgery can work miracles these days.

Yesterday Sweet Thing and David came up for a visit and to get some spices from Jay for cooking the new healthy way!  We managed to get the new drinking water filter in thank to David and still have time for a game or two of pinochle.  Our first game was a repeat on the performance that the ladies usually have as far as winning is concerned!  Yep the guys won 559 to 439.  But the second game brought a braver Momma because the cards improved tremendously.  The result were Girls (and I use this term loosely) won 512 to 412 . ( yea for our side, we don’t have to be humble because it is my blog , so there!)

So tuesday was ride the John Deere day and I got the whole 2 + acres done.  Jay worked on the weed wacker and got some of that out of the way.  You know we have never been able to make those darn things work for over a couple of times.  We have owned a gas engine one and now an electric one.  Either the thing won’t start or the feed won’t work on them.  I am going out to a flea market and find me one of the old fashion one—you know with long handle L-shaped with the flat blade ( similar to a scythe).

Well we decided that we were through canning for this year and then this week we decided that cinnamom pears might be good also.  So Jay called the orchard and found out that they will be in next weekend.  So you know what that means.  So have you done any canning this year at all?  I know the tomatoes were not very good because of the cold, rainy season so that kinda put the “cabash” on them!

So I guess you are wondering why the picture of the bush!  Well I see a few red leaves on my fire bush and that means fall before we ever had a decent summer.  I must say I am thankful that we aren’t suffering what the Floridians are going through though.  My thoughts are with them though and I hope this will pass soon.