Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2017-40

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Maureen Grey writes about the kindness of strangers to people in need
• Jean Sterling has help in clearing fallen trees from her lot
• Jackie Stevens forwards a story about an older Saskatchewan farmer
• Shirley Conlon sends October´s calendar as portrayed by seniors
• Here are some signs that you are not a kid anymore
• Gerrit de Leeuw forwards a story of a mid-life crisis
• Tom Telfer suggests interesting websites

Maureen Grey writes about strangers´ kindness in this Heroic Story:

ON THE HOUSE

My sister and her son live in a small town in the Sierra Nevadas. "Susan" lives on a shoestring, working for the county. They do fine, with a small house and beautiful yard with a great homemade jungle gym. Trademark Sierras pines provide shade.

2002 brought unusual temperatures for this upper Sierra town, up past 110 degrees. Gazing out the window one day, my sister saw "incredible wind." Susan and "Jake" ran to the inner part of the house as giant pines in her yard uprooted, sending dirt clods through virtually every window.

This was caused by a weather "microburst," where two weather fronts violently collide, producing tornado-strength winds that blow one direction. Susan´s house lost windows and part of the porch. Both jungle gym and workshop were demolished.

Miraculously, the huge trees fell in a "V" shape, barely missing the majority of her house, truck, and full propane tank. Susan and Jake were safe. Outside, though, were fallen utility poles, sparking live wires, and broken transformers.

My sister spent Friday with her insurance company and emergency power and phone crews. The county emergency team tried to arrange emergency shelter. One of the town´s four motels was demolished, the other three full. The temperature hit 113 - and their house had no electricity, air conditioning, phone, or hot water.

My sister in Oregon drove down for moral support. From Chicago, I used my Internet skills to locate a place for them to stay. The Feather River Inn, 30 minutes away, was nearly full.

However, Feather River´s clerk said, "I live in the same town. It´s unbelievable." She referred me to the River Pines Resort. She added, "If they´re full, call me back and I´ll work out something." I was touched by her kindness.

The River Pines clerk said they had exactly one room left with air conditioning. I told her that my sisters would get in late Saturday, after dealing with the mess. She asked me their names, my name, and my phone number, despite my being in Chicago.

When my sisters got to River Pines, the desk person asked how long they´d stay. Two days; until Susan´s house and gas lines could be inspected and her utilities turned back on. My older sister pulled out her credit card to pay for their room. The desk clerk informed them the owner of the resort had said the resort would take care of the bill.

I consider myself a hard-edged cynic, and have spent 25 years perfecting that image in the urban setting of Chicago. Yet when I heard this, I cried, my cynical heart completely melted by the caring and kindness of total strangers.

While this may have been a small disaster compared to many in our world, there really is no small kindness. These kindnesses convinced me that people have not lost the ability to care and respond, to help others in any way possible.

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CORRESPONDENCE

Jean Sterling writes from Florida:

Some guys from North Carolina came by and removed our pile of fallen trees. Here is a photo of part of the operation:

Jackie Stevens forwards the story of

A SASKATCHEWAN BANKER´S ADVICE

The banker saw his old friend Tom, an eighty-year old rancher, in town.

Tom had lost his wife a year or so before and rumour had it that he was marrying a "mail order" bride. Being a good friend, the banker asked Tom if the rumour was true.

Tom assured him that it was. The banker then asked Tom the age of his new bride-to-be.

Tom proudly said, "She´ll be twenty-one in November."

Now the banker, being the wise man that he was, could see that the sexual appetite of a young woman could not be satisfied by an eighty-year-old man.

Wanting his old friend´s remaining years to be happy, the banker tactfully suggested that Tom should consider getting a hired hand to help him out on the ranch, knowing that nature would take its own course.

Tom thought this was a good idea and said he would look for one that afternoon.

About four months later, the banker ran into Tom in town again.

"How"s the new wife?" asked the banker.

Tom replied with pride, "She"s fine and she"s pregnant."

The banker, happy that his sage advice had worked out, continued, "And how"s the hired hand?"

Without hesitating, Tom said, "She"s pregnant too."

Don´t ever underestimate Saskatchewan old guys.

Here is October´s calendar from the year´s collection of seniors posing as actors in well-known movies sent to us by Shirley Conlon:

Saturday Night Fever, starring Irmgard Alt, 79, and Siegfried Gallasch, 87

YOU´RE NOT A KID ANY MORE when...

- You can live without sex but not without your glasses.

- You quit trying to hold in your stomach, no matter who walks into the room.

- You enjoy watching the news.

- The phone rings and you hope its NOT for you.

- The only reason you´re still awake at 4:00 a.m. is indigestion.

- People ask what color your hair USED to be.

- You´re proud of your lawnmower.

- Your best friend is dating someone half their age AND isn´t breaking any laws.

- You start singing along with the elevator music.

- You really do want a new washing machine for your birthday.

- Your car has four doors.

- You routinely check the oil in your car.

- You´ve owned clothes so long that they´ve come back into style, TWICE.

- You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

- You consider coffee one of the most important things in life.

- 8:00 a.m. is your idea of "sleeping in."

- You don´t remember when you got that mole ... or the one next to it.

- You write thank you notes without being told.

- Neighbors borrow your tools.

- You answer a question with, "Because I said so!"

- Others ask for your recipes.

- You start Christmas shopping in August.

- You paint walls for a reason other than getting your deposit back.

- You don´t like to drive after dark.

- You say the words, "Turn that music down!"

- You wear black socks with sandals.

- You point out what buildings used to be where.

- You know all the warning signs of a heart attack.

- You rake the yard without being told to.

- You can´t remember the last time you lay on the floor to watch TV.

- The service station attendant lets you pump your gas before paying.

Gerrit de Leeuw forwards this one about a

MID-LIFE CRISIS

After being married for 56 years, I took a careful look at my wife one day and said, "Honey, fifty-six years ago we had a cheap trailer, a cheap car, slept on a sofa-bed, and watched a 10-inch black and white TV. But I got to sleep every night with a hot 17-year-old gal.

"Now I have a $300,000 home, a $45,000 car, a nice big bed and large screen TV, but I´m sleeping with a 73-year-old woman. It seems to me that you´re not holding up your side of things."

My wife is a very reasonable woman. She told me to go out and find a hot 17-year-old gal, and she would make sure that I would once again be living in a cheap apartment, driving a cheap car, sleeping on a sofa-bed, and watching a 10-inch black and white TV.

Aren´t older women great? They really know how to solve a mid-life crisis....

SUGGESTED SITES

Tom Telfer forwards this link to the best videos of the month of September, 2017:

Tom also sends the URL for the story of David Deutchman´s volunteering to hold new-born infants at a children´s hospital:

In this TED talk, Jeremy Rifkin talks about the coming third industrial revolution:

This nostalgic trip crosses generational boundaries at times, and is designed to show that nothing is permanent but change:

From The Good News Network, here is the story of celebrity chef Jose Andres who has been in Puerto Rico cooking and delivering thousands of daily meals for hungry survivors of Hurricane Maria: