RIP Dodie Stodghill

Sorry for the duplication. Some of the first was cut off:

Good Morning, This has been a downright awful week for your humble scribe. First, last Sunday, shortly after submitting this publication, I received word that my Great Aunt, Dodie Stodghill, had passed away. Not unexpected but these things still come as a shock. To JoEllen, Patty, and Susan, I want to express the sincerest of condolences with your Mother's passing. Close knit family. She'll be sorely missed. I've enclosed her obituary. Then Monday morning, I fell not once but TWICE in the span of an hour. Sad state of affairs. I'm thinking of giving up walking all together and keep my fanny affixed to the seat of a wheel chair. No decision has been made yet. I'm pondering/procrastinating the decision. No bumps or bruises, other than my pride. Isn't pride one of the seven deadly sins? Hrmmmmm Wednesday morning saw "The 'Burg" lose TWO residents. Dr. Death was looming through the hallway's that night. Again, I've enclosed the one Obit as the 2nd is currently Obit-less. Friday evening I received word my online job is being discontinued. This throws a wrench into the spokes of my finances. I may be living behind a McDonald's in a dumpster, waiting for the nightly deposit of chicken McNuggets. Needless to say I will have oodles of spare time on my hands. Wollow it away playing backgammon, I guess. Sure hope Bryan can do some of that fancy Lawyer'n, Right now I am a wee-tad nervous. That's the week in review. No "while I convalesce, I ponder" this week. Well, I am pondering but on more serious issues than I wish to print. On a culinary note, I was thinking of other oddities certainly palatable. Table vinegar in chili. Try it. Just a tablespoon in your soup bowl. Mrs. Jana Baker turned me on to this while living in Manhattan, KS. Don't knock it til you try it. All for this week. Have a good week everyone and I'll see ya next Sunday..... E. Jo 'Dodie' Stodghill E. Jo "Dodie" Stodghill, 81, of 3001 Dale Ann Drive, Louisville, Ky., and formerly of Vincennes, passed away Sunday, May 24, 2009, at her residence. Dodie was born on April 13, 1928, the daughter of David Clayton and Mary Catherine (Trubac) Hobbs. She married Charles Fee Stodghill on July 1, 1951, and he preceded her in death on May 21, 1985. Dodie was a 1950 graduate of the Louisville General Hospital School of Nursing. She was a registered nurse, having retired from Good Samaritan Hospital after several years of employment. Dodie was a member of the First Presbyterian Church where she served as an elder. She was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police Auxillary Lodge No. 62 where she had been a state officer. She was a member of the American Nurses Association and the Indiana State Nurses Association where she was a state officer. Also she was a Girl Scout and 4-H leader at Tecumseh School. Survivors include her daughters, Jo Ellen Keller and her husband, Earle, of Vincennes, Patrice Elaine Smith and her husband, Bruce, of New Albany, Susan Elizabeth Mayo and her husband, Ted, of Louisville; grandchildren Charles Stodghill Sebring of Vincennes, Ashli Elizabeth Mayo and Eric Best of Louisville; five stepgrandchildren; and a foster daughter, Carol Todd, and her family. Dodie was preceded in death by her parents and sister, Mary Lee Wildman. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, 2009, at Goodwin Funeral Home, 524 Broadway St., with the Rev. Mike Julian officiating. Entombment will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery Tower Mausoleum. Visitation will be from 2-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at Goodwin Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the Vincennes Salvation Army or Hosparus of Louisville. Online condolences may be sent to www.goodwinfamilyfh.com. Lottie Skipworth Jan. 3, 1929-May 27, 2009 Lottie M. Skipworth, 80, of Crawfordsville, formerly of Indianapolis, passed away at 1:50 a.m. Wednesday in Williamsburg Nursing Home. She was born January 3, 1929 in Russellville, Ky., to James and Mildred Moore Holden. Mrs. Skipworth was a homemaker who attended school in Kentucky. She married David Harold Skipworth. He preceded her in death in 1999. Survivors include a son, Ronnie Skipworth; daughters, Connie Rutan and Linda Amick; sons, Tony Skipworth and Joe Skipworth; and daughter, Patricia Basey, all of the Indianapolis area, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at the New Crown Cemetery along Raymond Street in Indianapolis. Arrangements were made through Burkhart Funeral Home. Online condolences can be made at www.BurkhartFH.com.

Memorial Day Weekend

Ahh, Memorial Day weekend. Fond memories of Memorial Day weekend come oozing out of this lasagna I call my brain. Camping with my Grandparents, fishing day and night, and listening, yes, LISTENING to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio. Those were the days we Hoosiers were blacked out from a live telecast. Oh what fun it was. Fond memories indeed.

Let's take a moment to give thanks to the men and women, along with their families, of the Armed Forces. Pray for their safe keeping. Also pay tribute to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in Defense of our Country. Fought and died for the rights we enjoy.

As always, I hope everybody had a good week. Have a SAFE and Memorable weekend and I'll see ya next week, and when you eat eggs, use CATSUP.....

.....as I convalesce, I ponder........

Not really a ponder per se, as much as it is a bit of a History of my catsup on eggs usage. I vividly recall the first time I witnessed catsup being smothered on eggs by my, then 5 year old step-sister, Betsy. I was Seven. A plate of scrambled eggs was placed before her and much to my dismay, she reaches for the catsup!!!!! Ewwwwwww, gross I say. I had not yet been indoctrinated to scrambled eggs. Mine were always fried sunny-side up with a dash of pepper. Ever who heard of catsup on eggs?!?!?!

I finished my childhood and teenage years avoiding this, this nasty conglomeration of unlikely sidekicks.

I next observed this subterfuge while in the Military. No eggs sunny-side up there. You got 'em scrambled and took 'em with a smile on your face. Various items were sprinkled and/or poured upon said eggs. One of which was yes, indeed catsup. So, I thought why not? Put a dab upon the eggs and much to my chagrin it was pretty tasty. Okay, so now I enjoyed catsup on scrambled eggs, next up, sunny-side up. I was in a restaurant in Junction City, KS, still in the Military. Ordered a breakfast which included 2 eggs sunny-side up. They were delivered and I reluctantly reached for the catsup bottle. Might as well get it over with, I said to myself. This too I found to be a tasty combination, but still doubted it would replace my pepper, salsa, hot sauce dabbing.

Today, aside from the occasional hot sauce usage, I apply catsup abundantly. I was a bit skittish at first in my new digs, surrounded by strangers. That is until my table mate, Mr. Joseph Brown (Title included out of respect) had his eggs, over easy I might add, placed before him and much to my delight and total surprise, he started breaking open the catsup packages.

Sunday 5/17/09

Good morning,

This week has certainly flown by. Here it is Friday and I have not produced a single word for this week's edition. Time to do so, so let's get started.

I neglected to mention last week of locating "The 'Burg's" webmaster of its website. So, all the outdated content has been removed and, well, not much remains, I'm afraid. The basics are there though. including pictures of the facade of my digs. Hopefully they'll spruce the site up a bit. Bryan, there IS information regarding private rooms and whatnot. I hope this is something we can look into at some point. The sooner the better.

Nothing of interest has occurred this week. Everyone that was with us last week remain here this week. So, our existence continues. We did however have quite the light show early Thursday morning. Strong storms passed through the area. Thunder too but I missed that portion of the program, for obvious reasons. I was awake the early morning hours for I have mixed my day's and night's. All I want to do during the day is sleep and am up on the computer all night. I'm not fond of this "schedule" and at some point hope to break the cycle. Maybe there is a 12-step program I can join or view on DVD. :-)

I hope all of you had a great week and accomplished all you set out to do. Have a great week this next week and I'll see ya next Sunday. Now, on to my weekly pondering........

As I convalesce, I ponder..........obituaries. Perhaps a morbid topic to discuss but I have had a few ponderings. I subscribe to the Indianapolis Star. In the Metro+State section, on a daily basis, there are ~50, count 'em FIFTY obituaries to read. All are written similarly Born on date, date they expired, Civic organizations, etc etc etc. Many have a Church they were a member of, never mind the fact that they hadn't attended since D-Day, or their tithing over the course of the last Quarter Century wouldn't purchase a Happy Meal. Nothing negative is EVER written. It's as if we bury nominees for Sainthood on a daily basis. I've come to the conclusion that one's obituary is written by the living for the living; one last chance to say good-bye. I mean the deceased don't care what is written. It's as if the living write it to give their loved one a boost through Heaven's door. Never mind the fact that the deceased, when living, didn't accept what one is deemed we accept for entrance into the Kingdom of flowing milk and honey. No, we'd never read about that.

Sure, this is a cynical view and Lee can speak with more of an Authority than I but when all is said and done, I guess we need to live up to what our obituaries are certain to say.

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

Good Morning,

As I begin this week's magnum opus, it is Mid-week. Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, has transpired thus far I can only hope the rest of the week is as exciting.

I believe I had mentioned my undonning (is that a word?) of the medical hosiery prescribed by Dr. Doolittle. Well, I had redonned (sounds good) them only to once again banish them to the drawer never to be worn again. Too cumbersome, too uncomfortable. 'Nuf said and please, no sass. :-)

One thing I was pleased with after the last issue, was the making of a few more posts by (you). For that I sincerely thank you. And a special Thanks, no, round of applause, to Danno for chiming in with his Blog URL. Mucho appreciated, Dan. Hope you get a little activity. I know of at least one instance of it being forwarded to a non-subscriber of The Sunday News.

As I mentioned last week, I'm going to begin an "as I convalesce, I ponder" section. Just everyday things we may or may not completely think about, we just see or do them. Some will have a moral to the story. I hope we all recognize the morals, as written. If not, you'll be condemned to wear a slightly used pair of medical hosiery. :-) I had intended to begin penning my ponderances this week but am still pondering, nay, mulling the subject matter. The 2nd week will be a culinary exercise in the wonderous placement of catsup on one's scrambled eggs. Be sure to tune in.

It's a Cloudy Saturday. Read that KS and MO had severe storms overnight, killing 4. I hope and pray our Sunday News subscribers in those areas are safe and sound. Hoping for a mild Season but it looks to be another tornadic one.

Let me wrap this up and get it to press. I'm still kick'n. See ya next week.

-me

Sunday 5/3/09

I'm beginning this a bit later than I had anticipated. Intentional, not procrastinating. I had hoped to have news of "The 'Burg's" webmaster, but it is still a big mystery. Not sure if I'm being put off or what, after all I am just a crotchity resident not to be taken seriously. All I can say is stay tuned for further updates.

"As I convalesce, I ponder" it seems will be my catch phrase for Op/ED's. Don't look for commentary on politic's, religion, et al. I'll forego these issues leaving them to the professionals. Dan, that's quite the blog you've assembled. I see you are still your shy and timid self. :-) I can't seem to locate Danno's blog at the moment, Dan, if you could resend it or post it here, WITH YOUR DISCLAIMER, I'd appreciate it. However Dan words it, I'll just say this: If (you) lean to the left of the political spectrum or are easily offended, then this may not be your cup of tea. 'Nuf said.

I on the otherhand, your humble correspondent, strive to entertain all, thus I have to become a Centrist in such matters. I would be remiss however if I didn't say that after visiting Dan's, I wanted to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sing The Star Spangled Banner, and pray openly to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all at the same time. Dan, we await your post. :-)

Status quo as for me. I have once again donned the ridiculous hosiery medically prescribed. Unsure how long this will last. I'm still walking, if you want to call it that, twice a day. Fairly unstable and am required to have a staff member with me. I use the wheelchair as a walker and then spend the rest of the time pedalling it to and fro.

Well, time to wrap this nothingness up and get it to press. Hey, if Seinfeld can do a series based upon nothingness, why can't I have a successful Blog, huh? Have a great week and I'll see ya next week with an editorial. Been pondering obituaries of late. Yes, I'm weird.