Night time

I've just decided I'm tired of it getting dark so quickly.  It's making me sad.  Well, that and other things.  Had a little "episode" this afternoon which I coped with by having a good cry.  I just hate it when I'm forced to face the fact that I'm a big weenie.  It only lasted a couple of hours but it scared me plenty. (severe pain in upper inner thigh)  Kind of like labor, kind of like sciatica, kind of like I want to die!  Yeah, I'm not much of a fighter.  Times like this make me very thankful for Google.  I can search for my symptom and find lots of other people writing in with the exact same pain--and they're all plenty scared too. 

I've had these pains in this particular area off and on for a year but they're definitely getting a little more punch to them and I'm definitely glad I'm seeing a doctor this Friday. That's another thing I like about computers. I googled him and a YouTube video came up with him talking to a patient.  Somehow it was a little comforting to see my savior.  And that's what I'm calling him after this afternoon event. I've got high hopes that he can fix me.

Saw on Facebook that my cousin, Grant, is being sent to the east coast. Not a surprise there. He works for FEMA.  Terrible scenes to watch on TV.  And I am ever so thankful that the election is here tomorrow. Only a few more days of having it in our face day and night.

Here's an interesting story I got from Pete in Vancouver, WA yesterday. Sorry it's so double spaced and long. Cut and paste is kind of iffy on this blog.

 

 HISTORY: Monopoly Game in WWII?

       

In 1941, increasing numbers of British Airmen became prisoners of the

Third Reich. The Crown was looking for ways and means to facilitate

their escape...

Obviously, one of the most helpful aids would be a useful map, which showed

locations of 'safe houses' where an escaped POW could go for food and

shelter.  However, paper maps had drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise

when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet,

they turn into mush. Someone in MI-5 (similar to America 's OSS ) got the

idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up

into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no

noise whatsoever

At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had

perfected the technology of printing on silk, John Waddington, Ltd.

When approached by the government, the firm was happy to do its bit for

the war effort.  By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee

for the popular American board game, Monopoly.  'Games and pastimes' was

a category of item qualified to be inserted into 'CARE packages', sent by the

International Red Cross to prisoners of war.

Under strict secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop

on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees

began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or

Italy where Allied POW camps were located. When processed, these maps

could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a

Monopoly playing piece.

The clever workmen at Waddington's also included:

1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass 2. A two-part

metal file that could easily be screwed together 3. Useful amounts of

genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden

within the piles of Monopoly money!

Before taking off on their first mission, British and American air crews were

advised, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red

dot, cleverly disguised to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the

corner of the Free Parking square.

Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated

one-third were aided in their flight by those rigged Monopoly sets.  Everyone

who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government

might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war.

The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen

from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were honored in a public

ceremony.

 

Some of you may be too young to have had any personal connection to

WWII (Dec. '41 to Aug. '45), but this is an interesting part of history.

 

Had a bowl of popcorn last night and gave the leftover to the crows this morning. Didn't take any time at all for them to discover it on the front lawn. I think there were about ten of them before it was gone.

Hunter came over after school and helped me plant my tulip bulbs in the garden beds in the back yard. Sure was happy to get that chore done.

Strange dreams again last night. I'm back at the fairgrounds. This time it was the Clallam County and Jefferson County fairgrounds but mostly the PT one. I've never been able to figure out why my dreams take place here but it's been happening for years.

Was looking through old pictures this morning and came across this one of my dad in 1967. He was cutting out the seeds for Sue and Eddie. Mary had just been born and he came over to Seattle to see his new granddaughter. He was 44 in this picture.

 

Think I'll take it easy tomorrow. Maybe take it easy all week. I got some muffins baked up today but that was about the extent of it.  I'm off to the recliner now. I'm in "feel sorry for myself mode" and I plan to wallow in it.