JavaJane

The statue was gone the last time I was at the auditorium... but VP's lifesize atrocity was there in the lobby for all to see. I think the Timothy statue was moved to Gunnison to be an inspiration to the Corpse or something.

...when your favorite day of the week is now Sundays because it's time to relax with your family, not set up for fellowship and then for a hook-up or being required to attend the service.

Amen, SISTER!!! Want some coffee? I have plenty!

Oh, and Mr. Hamm... just posted a recipe for your species in the cooking forum!!! ("only a very old squirrel is tough enough to require marinating")

I think the recipe called for rolling the peanut butter into balls and then wrapping two strips of crossed bacon around it. Then you secure it with a toothpick and bake. I don't think this one is very practical... I think the peanut butter would probably melt through the cracks.

I never wanted to try that one, it sounds nasty.

But here's an interesting one for you:

Brunswick Stew from The Gourmet Cookbook Volume I (from Gourmet Magazine circa 1950)

Note: Wild squirrels abound everywhere, and their white flesh is tender and delicious. They can be cooked like a rabbit or chicken, and only a very old squirrel is tough enough to require marinating.

Cut 2 plump young squirrels into serving peices. Dredge in well-seasoned flour and brown the peices in fat with 6 onions, thinly sliced. Transfer the meat and onions to an earthenware casserole and add 3 cups of boiling water, 6 tomatoes peeled and sliced, 3 red peppers, chopped, and a generous pinch of thyme. Cover the casserole and let the stew simmer for one hour. Add 1 quart of lima beans, the kernels scraped from 6 ears of green corn, 1 quart of okra, 1 tablespoon chopped parsely, and 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce. Cover the casserole and simmer until the meat and vegetables are tender. Thicken the sauce slightly with equal parts flour and butter kneaded together in the casserole.

BEWARE, MR. HAMMERONI!!

I have heard that you can now catch mad cow disease from eating squirrel, so I wouldn't recommend trying this one out.

I also have recipes for bear, muskrat, woodchuck stew and creamed woodchuck. Unfortunately, no recipes for bacon wrapped woodchuck. Sorry, folks. Funny how squirrel was considered "gourmet" cooking in the 50s, although the recipe does sound yummy.

* edited because I don't know "this" from "that"

I just got a box of antique cookbooks shipped to me. I have had some for throwing parties from the 30s and 40s... seems like they wrapped everything in bacon back then to serve as an hors doerve...

Bacon wrapped:

peanut butter

water chestnuts - had this one, it's GOOD

mushrooms

olives - black and green

pickles

bleu cheese

yummy. ?

Anybody else have some weird old recipes?

RainbowsGirl - a quick couple of hints to make your pie crust a little easier:

1. Use cold water (like with ice in it) - it keeps the fat in the crust hard which makes it more flaky when you bake it.

2. You can add a little sugar to the crust if you want, too - not too much, though, maybe a tbsp for 2 pies.

3. Use your hands to "cut" the fat into the flour - it's a lot faster than messing with a pastry cutter or knife

4. You can glaze the crust with beaten egg to make it shiny.

I'll check my copious collection of cookbooks to see if I have a recipe for raspberry pie filling. I just got a box of antique cookbooks shipped to me today, might find something interesting in there!

- jane

Glad to hear it, RainbowsGirl!!

When I was in, attendance at branch meetings was pretty much mandatory. If you didn't show, you'd surely hear from someone.

It's changed a little in the past few years. I think they MAed so many people they cut off a pretty good portion of their income. Now they play all nice-nice (at least on the surface) with people as far as attendance goes. I think they realized that they would lose everyone if they kept that behavior up. It kind of backfired in a weird way - it's become very... corporate (?) minded. That's the only way I can explain it. Lots of rules for the higher ups on how to teach, how to speak, how to answer questions and requests for advice without giving an answer. It's very hard to explain... and it's very different from the LCM days. Not so militant, mainly just boring unless you are in a leadership position, and then you have to file tons of paperwork and follow a huge bureacracy.

Like I said, it's hard to explain... But the simplest I can put it is - attendance is not mandatory, please send us your money, even though we give you nothing in return.

One of my favorite fairy tales involves nettles The Wild Swans

It was made into a novel called Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. It's an awesome book. I highly recommend it.

The story goes that there was a royal family with lots of sons and one daughter. Their mother died and their father remarried, but his new wife was evil and enchanted her husband to make him blind to her true intents. She turns the sons into swans, but the daughter escapes. The daughter finds that the only way to break the spell is to weave stinging nettles into tunics for each of her swan brothers. She also cannot speak while she is accomplishing the task.

Links are provided above if you would like to read one version of the tale, and to see the novel on Amazon.

A mid-west branch - 20 people total

Just to clarify for those doing addition - this was the number that showed for the branch meeting - not necessarily how many are IN the branch. I don't really know exactly how many are currently attending fellowship. May be less, may be more.

Jewelweed works, too... I've used it on both poison ivy and stinging nettles and it helped a lot.

Wikipedia on Jewelweed

You may have some near that batch of nettles.

My husband saw that picture you posted and said - IS THAT WEED?? I think he wonders what kind of cafe we have going over here now!!

Yeah I felt weird vibes there too like something weird went on there in previous years. Of course devil spirits couldn't invade any place TWI owned because they have THE TRUTH!!!!

I don't know that I believe in the whole devil spirit thing, but I definitely think past events can affect a place.

I believe the same, Notta... And I have had some "experiences" at the gulag that I cannot explain as "godly". If the nastiness in the basement wasn't at the Rome City Campus before twi came in, enough evil sh;t happened while twi was there to leave some nasty impressions on the ether.

Hubby and I don't like to join groups, even though we do see the need to be on the school site council etc. We find we are very critical about how things are done...TWI hold over. We want every thing planned out well ahead of time, and the plan adheared too, while many feel it is fine to 'wing' it...Really, we were involved in Master Gardeners and just couldn't handle it!

I feel you there, Bramble.... I have the same problems with any kind of event. It drives me absolutely nuts to not have things planned out in advance (for events only, in my personal life, it's another game entirely), and to not have everything you might need for a project will send me over the edge. Deep down, I think not planning something through is inconsiderate for the people you have involved.

I'm not sure if that's Waybrain, or just my personality...

For me, the doctrine doesn't matter that much. People will believe what they will beleive, and it's not up to me to dictate what that is. I think someone could actually hold on to a lot of the twi doctrine and be a lovely person, it all depends on the larger problem - how twi treated people in practice... As we all know what they preach is not the same as what they practice. The actions involved are more hurtful than the doctrines, IMHO.

Javajane-

What branch was that?

Can anyone else give specific numbers for specific branches in recent years?

Sorry, Johnj - I try not to give much of any personal info online... I can tell you it was in the Midwest.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I'm so glad you were born!

That girl singing was absolutely amazing... reminded me of Shirley Temple. Here she is again:

Good GOD!! MENUDO?? Had it a couple of times... remembered it as being very... ...chewy?

I'd stick with the water remedy. And eat something before you go to bed. That helps, too.

Right now I'm listening to my husband singing "EASY" by Lionel Richie...

Thanks for the link, Chas! Very interesting!

We did that as WOWS and I heard it taught before.

Then as numbers dwindled even regular twigs were supposed to go out witnessing if no on showed. Embarrassing- trying to get new people to come to fellowship when it was so boring you couldn't get anyone who drank the koolaid to show!

I remember that... Funny story: I actually BROUGHT SOMEONE to fellowship one night, and my FC was upset because now we weren't supposed to go witnessing (because we had a new person)...

AND THAT WASN'T IN THE SCHEDULED PLAN.

WFT?

I would buy it and turn it into a Haunted House er sorry it is already one.

My first room at Rome City had a sign on the door "Treatment Room" there were extreme electrical outlets in it.

Not kidding

Dude, my brother said the same exact thing about it being haunted. We should call TAPS and have them do an investigation!!

WOOOOO HOOOO WOG!!! That was AWESOME!!

I like Shifra's test, but I think I would see it more as a test of how much you no longer believe twi's doctrines.... While this may be important, I see "brainwashing" in a category separate from doctrine... So here is my new and improved and not so silly quiz:

1. Do you feel you have to check with another person (besides your spouse) before making any major decisions in life?

2. Are you constantly living in a state of fear because you believe God does not love you?

3. Do you allow others to bully you, and believe they are right for doing so?

4. Do you believe you and a few select others are better than everyone else because you belong to a certain group?

5. Do you think that by putting yourself in uncomfortable situations you will cause yourself to grow?

6. Will you go against your instincts in a situation and do something potentially harmful to yourself or another because someone in charge tells you to?

7. Are you willing to separate yourself from your family for the good of your organization?

8. Do you have self worth based on yourself and not on being a part of a group of people?

9. When the phone rings and you see it is your minister on the caller id, does your heart rate go up?

10. Does every conversation you have with another person center on your religion?

11. Are you unwilling to look at any other point of view other than that of the organization?

12. Will you throw out items in your home that you enjoy because a leader told you they were spiritually contaminated?

13. Do you believe there is only one religious organization that is correct and all others are idolatrous?

14. Will you change your manner of dress and appearance to please your leadership, even though it goes against what you like?

15. Will you allow another person other than your spouse to tell you how to raise your children?

Once you answer these questions, tell me if you think you ARE right NOW brainwashed, and then tell me if you WERE brainwashed previously.

In the past two years the fellowship we were attending went from 20 people to about 3 people who came all the time. The last

"branch" meeting we attended was about 20 people total... and that included kids.

Two years ago the branch was big enough to fill a large room at the anniversary - a year later it only had about two rows of chairs filled at the same meeting.

It's dying. I know several people in the area who are still "on the list" as being part of the branch, but they haven't been coming for over a year.

Mr B!!! Congratulations!!!!!

Whoopeee!!!