My dad joined the Navy when he was 15. His mother signed the papers swearing he was 16. It was 1943. He always said that's when the war turned in the Allies' favor.

 That was his only war story. Or… Read full post »

 Since I've been coming back to OS, every time, the first thing I've seen has been the copy I posted of the revolutionary document.

 It bored me and reminded me how little I have to say and how much I don't feel like writing. Nothing as advanced… Read full post »

 Some Saturday fluff, inspired by Kate O'hehir's adorable and amusing schandenfreude post.  It reminded me and I thought I'd share, Rex, a dog of great heart and little brain, loved by all who met him.

 ^{scars visible on his side from a failed pouch skin graft attempt}… Read full post »

A young boy called the police in the middle of the night, telling them his home had been invaded and his entire family killed.  The intruders were still in the house but he had hidden in the bathroom, so far avoiding detection. 

Imagine his mother's surprise… Read full post »

Over the past week my inherent tendencies to procrastination and immobility (traits shared by a large enough share of everyone I'm genetically related to that I am convinced it's inherent) got bumped into high gear - if it's even possible for slow to have a high gear - when… Read full post »

I can't believe I'm posting about the Octomom

Society-wide we are all agreed: the most important thing is to punish Nadya Suleman.  At the very least, her children must all be taken far, far away from her and she must never, ever so much  as see them again. … Read full post »

One of the comments in my last post mentioned my avatar so I thought I'd show its origin.

 I'm on the left, of course, with my two sisters and Boy, my uncle's farm dog.  It looks like Jackie is about 2 which makes me 6 and Michele 7,… Read full post »

It was dark, cold and snowy and the supermarket parking lot was busy.  As I unlocked my car, a tall, bearded black man suddenly appeared from behind the next car and asked if I had jumper cables he could use.  I thought for a few seconds visualizing… Read full post »

between two-thirds and three-quarters of embryos “never implant in the uterus and are spontaneously aborted.”

I read the quote above in the second of Bjorn Phillip Beer’s exquisitely reasoned and written discussion of the current contraception imbroglio.  It led me to m/… Read full post »

 Heidi Herron posts on OS from the political wars in Wisconsin, often using real-life stories of people who are affected by the political changes happening since the huge 2010 Tea Party victories there.  Recently she documented the efforts of one couple to get proper voter IDs as required b… Read full post »

My father had a quiet secret. He never talked about it and I saw it only once, sideways.

His early life was difficult and without his father. His parents had separated when he was a baby and he only knew his father briefly. They attempted… Read full post »

or What John Wanamaker Knew

 My parents’ house is a 1911 bungalow with a steep roof and closets filling the space under the eaves along both sides of the second floor.  Sometime in high school, for some reason I don’t remember, I was… Read full post »

There have been a few OS posts recently about the difficulties women have getting tubal ligation.  I’m astonished that women still have that problem almost 40 years after I did, that our society has made so little progress accepting that women can and should make their own decisions about… Read full post »

I don't post often and I haven't made a whole lot of friendships here on OS, but I hardly miss a day reading, often comment.  It's become a significant part of my life but I know most of you better than you know me.

 I post so little because there are… Read full post »

I must have been 10, judging by the age of the youngest kid in this pictu… Read full post »

I've taken to making sure to comment after rating a post on OS because of the recent discussions about ratings not registering without comments.  If there's been a correction or an explanation from OS, I've missed it so if this post is redundant I'm sorry.

 Here's what just happened:

• I
… Read full post »

and I'm fine if this is the millionth time it's been posted and I'm the one who's late!  It's just that brilliant.

 Nothing more to say about it - this says it all and doesn't need any help from me.

  Read full post »

True to her breeding, Lula arrived at our house believing she was the queen of all she encountered.  She was a brave and confident dog.  She was yet to learn the prime rule of living in Spot’s house.  Spot was a dog who had raised herself to adolescence from a pup… Read full post »

Well, this is off topic, not about the little white dog but it must be said, it's just too much dog when you eat shit, even accidentally.

(This post is not for the squeamish; you may already have detected that.  Be warned: do not continue if you think it might… Read full post »