What Pulled Us Up Out of the Depression?

Our economy is a hot topic right now. People are hurting. No jobs, no money. The thing is, the majority of people out there that are asking their government to help them through this would really rather be working. They REALLY don't want everyone else to pay their way, but they simply can NOT find a job that will pay the bills, even after they've walked away from their dream home and sold everything they have that anyone might want to buy. And people aren't buying, so who are they suppose to sell their things too? And then we get senators like this, "Senator blocks federal aid bill." He wants to know who is going to pay for this. I would like to point out that this senator is not running again, he doesn't care what anyone else thinks/feels, he is running his own agenda. To answer his question I think one needs to go back and find out what pulled us out of the Great Depression. I think this graph says a lot...

You can read more about this at, "How We Get Out of the Great Depression II" that states... "Unfortunately, as in the Great Depression, the extreme conservatives would rather trash the country than have our government succeed." And I tend to agree with this. Another interesting resource is "National debt by U.S. presidential terms" in Wikipedia.

I've found two popular answers to my question. One says that it was Roosevelt and the work programs that pulled America up out of the Depression, the other is the war effort. I would further like to ask, either way, where did the money come from to fund it? I don't think either option is as different as some people would like you to believe. They were both funded by 'the government' (read tax dollars). Look at our national debt on the chart. The only difference is that during war time much stricter options were available. The government tightened the screws on distribution of many products and production (read jobs) swung into high gear. How can that be translated into today's language. I don't think it would read 'tax cuts for the rich'. How do YOU think it would translate?

Bierock Bake Fundraiser 2010

Tuesday the 23rd was the annual Bierock Bake Fundraiser for our Golden Wheat Chapter AHSGR. When I came in the baking had been underway for several hours already. The air smelled of baking dough. There were bierock cooling...
...and bierock in boxes waiting to be wrapped up to go.

Meat, cabbage and spices sat in pans waiting to be put into the dough that was rising under towels on the range.

Dough was being rolled out...

...and meat mixture folded up in it at two stations of two people working at each.

A few people were taking breaks... Surprise! ....they had been there since early morning.

My dil and I were there for the second shift and clean up.

Mom had been there since earlier in the morning, keeping things cleaned up, making sure they had clean baking sheets as the bierocks were baked and put to cool.

Our Fearless Leader what on her feet this year, remember last year?

Mmmmm... look at all the browning buns in the oven. Too bad you can't smell them.

Other members came to give moral support. ;)

Pinch it up nicely...

...doesn't that look good?

And here are boxes ready to go. This year a history of bierocks was included with each of the order.

This is a really good fundraiser for us. Seems LOTS of people like bierocks and we have no problem selling as many as we can bake in the time we're allotted in the kitchen. I'm sure we could sell even more, but we can only bake as fast as we have room in ovens. So that's all till next year!

Princess Basketball Tournament

Tournament was played on Saturday February 13th and I am finally getting around to going through all my pictures to get something posted. The Princess stayed the night and the two of us woke early to shower and eat then drive 30 minutes to Garden Plain for her first game at 8am. Both her mother and father had to work so it was just the two of us. Not having a someone to help me I missed out on getting pictures of the jump ball since I was also running a camcorder.
It was a pretty aggressive game from the beginning. After the 1st quarter I recruited help in the form of one of the other girl's younger sister. She did an excellent job of following the game with the camcorder and gave me the ability to get better still shots. To her I say, "Thank YOU!"

The girls were 'Home' on the scoreboard and had a slow start.

After halftime they picked up, snatching some balls and making baskets.

Catching the other team off guard.

The picture below is out of focus because it's from a larger photo. This is the only shot I could find to show how close the game was. At 33.5 seconds they were 1 point down.

I'm not exactly sure what the foul was, but in the first photo below #22 threw for a basket, in the second photo #22 appears to be rubbing her face or eye. In the third photo the ref to the back is signaling a free shot and the 4th photo is after the free shot finds the basket.
At 5.5 seconds the score is tied...

It went 2 minutes overtime with both teams vying for the winning basket. Below is the shot that won our girls the game with seconds left on the clock.

Good game, Girls!

Second Game of the Tournament

Because they had won their first game they were scheduled to play again. Their second game wasn't till noon so we drove to Goddard and got a bite to eat at McDonald's. I was surprised that their breakfast menu was still up. I'm not used to being up and out so early.

With my little helper on the camcorder I was able to get the jumpshot for the second game.

The second game went a lot faster...

The girls were "Guests" on the board this game...

They put their all into it and played hard..

...but this second team was more of a challenge for them.

They never gave up, but neither did the other team.

Good season, Girls! We'll see you all back on the court next season.

I Won! I REALLY Won!!!

You know how you post comments on one blog contest after another, never really expecting to win, though in the back of your mind you're say "Someone HAS to win," never believing that it will be you? Well..... I WON!
Check it out... a Sony Reader for ebooks. SWEET!

I want to Thank Eden M. Kennedy at Fussy.org for hosting the giveaway! This has got to be one of the better prizes I've seen given away. So to all of you out there who have never won, keep trying, SOMEBODY has to win, might as well be YOU! :)

I ♥ You!

Happy Valentines Day!

Had a couple granddaughters spend the night last night. I asked the youngest, PK, what she'd like for breakfast this morning (knowing full well what she'd say). Pancakes! So the pancakes pictured above is what they got for Valentine's breakfast.

Hope you're all having a loving Valentine's Day!

The Princess Plays Basketball Feb. 06

Up early last Saturday to take The Princess, her mom and siblings to her out of town basketball game. Her dad had to work so I drove. Below The Princess swooshes a ball during practice.
Jump ball and "The Games Began!" The reason I say this is because I don't think I've ever been to a basketball game that was quite as aggressive as this one.

There were more tug-o-war over the basketball than tackles in a football game.

Here was our first point, a foul shot.

The Princess even got in the middle of a few of these ball grabs.

She hung on pretty well...

...and ended up with the ball this time.

Another loose ball...

...ending up in another tug-o-war.

The Princess got to throw this one back in.

The scene below would have been comical if it wasn't on the basketball court and hadn't seemed like it was escalating over whose arms would be in front of who.
She got in a lot more action during this game.

But there was just plain more action all the way around during this game. Look at the score board at the end of the 2nd period. Look at all the fouls compared to the score!

I could fill this post with pictures like the one below.

Note that number 5 on the opposition was their most aggressive girl.

Just a few more shots to show you what a great deal of the game looked like from our side doing the grabbing...

...to their side doing the grabbing.

Our girls seemed to get fired up after half time and started getting the ball to their court in into the basket.

The game was pretty intense and the girls certainly got a workout with this one.

They were pretty happy with themselves but I don't think their opposition felt the same.

That was the last game of the season. On to Tournament!