Updates

As this website grows, I am continuously adding information on the other pages than just the home page. As of yesterday, I have added our first paranormal experience offered by one of my readers.

Also, under the Remembrances tab, you can read a bit about my friend, Bruce BeVier, who passed away late last week. His funeral was yesterday. It was a wonderful celebration of a life well-lived.

Just Hanging Around

Excitement comes in all shapes and sizes, and the other day at the library, it was about 3-4" long and hanging from the ceiling.

Somehow a bat had found its way into the Fowlerville Library . . . no doubt looking for a spooky, hair-raising Halloween story. But what he found was a lot of chatter and anxiousness.

And all at his expense, as it turned out.

While he quietly hung from the ceiling figuring out what book to check out, a couple fireman, a policeman, and 2 village employees gathered around him. Everybody else seemed to be standing quite a ways back waiting to see what happened.

But lucky for all, the bat included, he wiggled his way into a brown paper bag held up so nicely by one of the fireman and he went for a trip out the door, down the sidewalk, out to the road, and was allowed to go on his merry way. All of this to the grateful applause of the patrons.

And, once again, peace and quiet reigned both inside and outside. But for just a little while, Halloween fun had visited the Library . . . even if it was a week too early.

Snowball Effect

Janet Martindale used to spend at least 45 minutes to one hour packing and repacking one "care" package to send to her son, Chris, who is stationed in Afghanistan as a Lead Corpsman. That doesn't count the time she spent collecting the items and then getting the box to the post office. But none of that mattered . . . she was doing this out of love for her son and wanting him to experience a bit of "home" while he served his tour of duty.

Well . . .

Those care packages from home became a huge hit with him. Not only for him, though, but also those around him. He wouldn't open that box up and keep everything to himself. He shared.

But one day he mentioned to his mom there were others under his lead that never received anything from home. He had already told her how conditions in Afghanistan are different than anything he has ever experienced. Socks desintegrate and rot off their feet from slogging through wet countryside, showering or bathing opportunities are few and far between, warm bottled water is the only drink of choice, and meals are the same day after day after day. It was his way of asking for plain white socks, wipes, powder to flavor the water, and treats.
So, Janet began sending a few more boxes whenever possible. But at a cost of $11.40 postage/box and the amount of money it took to purchase items to go in the box, her resources limited her desire.

Until she made an offhanded comment to our good friend, Bruce BeVier. That is where the snowball was packed and started rolling downhill.

With a flurry of e-mails, phone calls, and a network of friendships and students wanting to help, in a few short weeks, money was collected, items purchased, and yesterday, in the basement of the United Methodist Church on South Second Street, 50 boxes were assembled, taped up, labeled, stacked, and made ready for delivery to the post office at 5:30 this morning. The numbers will never be accurate of all that showed up because workers came and went, but you can be assured there were at least 50 people helping out. One person for every box going to servicemen in Afghanistan. And, oh the goodies they are receiving. It may not seem like much to us but to them, these wipes will afford them a chance to wipe off some of the dirt and grime at the end of the day.And these snacks of candy bars, gum, salty snacks, licorice, powder to add to their water, hot chocolate mix, soup mix will enhance their meals. And packed deep inside each box, they will each find 4 pairs of white socks.

And a card of thanks.

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Janet Martindale, along with her husband and Chris' dad, Mike, and their two other sons, Chad and Dan (Mike and Dan shown in above picture) now know the power of a single comment, or one little snowball.

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But it doesn't end with Sunday's packing party. Chad, the son not in attendance, is away at school and mentioned to his fraternity what was happening in Fowlerville. They are now packing and sending 30-40 boxes to Afghanistan. And with more items donated than could be packaged into all the individual boxes, a large container will be packed with Ziploc bags filled with goodies to share with the Aghan children.

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The snowball just keeps getting bigger. But it all comes back to Chris, serving 4 years in the military, with hopes of heading to Michigan State University next fall to work toward becoming an orthodontic surgeon because in his words, he "would like to be a quality surgeon instead of a quantity surgeon." And it comes back to Janet. A mother just wanting her son to feel a little bit of "home" wherever he is in the world.

New Features

A blog, which this qualifies as, is always changing and evolving.

I've recently added a widget that will give you the current weather conditions. If you look to your right, you will see it. For those of you out-of-state checking to see what is happening in The Ville, let us know (by commenting) what's happening with the weather in your area.

I'll also be adding new polls weekly. This week's poll, wanting your opinion on what you would like to see on The Ville, will be coming to a close shortly. And then the poll itself is up for suggestions -- are you curious about something worth polling? Let me know.

Remember, it is very easy to comment -- just click on the title of the article you are interested in and at the end of that article you will see "Post a Comment." Click on that and you can leave your thoughts, either anonymously or by setting up a Google account. It's easy and I LOVE feedback. How else are we ever going to make this blog interesting for everyone?

Cold Cold Cold

It looks like the weather people are talking about a bit of a warm-up here in the mid-Michigan area . . . but it has been cold, cold, cold!

We may have had snow and ice, and lots of cold weather, but nothing compares to these. To that end, enjoy these pictures of icebergs and floats.

News Sources

Look to your right (on this screen, that is).

There is a poll quickly coming to an end. It is in regards to how you acquire your information on current events. And, inquiring minds would like to know -- so vote before the poll closes.

But, at this point, online sources appears to hold the lead. I find this interesting because that is exactly my main source for national and world news, and most of my local news. A couple years ago, all newspaper subscriptions were ended and the Internet has become my "paper" with my early morning cup(s) of coffee.

So, in that vein, I would like to offer up websites most commonly found in my list of favorites:

For bites of national news, and mostly entertainment -- USA Today - www.usatoday.com

Same as above, just maybe a different spin -- MSN - www.msnbc.com

For more indepth reporting -- TPM - www.talkingpointsmemo.com

Central Michigan news -- Lansing State Journal - www.lsj.com

County-wide news -- Livingston Press and Argus - www.livingstondaily.com

Local updates in conjunction with their once-a-week publication -- Fowlerville News and Views - www.fowlervillenewsonline.com

So, how about you? Do you have any favorite websites where you find the information you are looking for, or for some easy entertainment, or maybe accurate and unbiased reporting? I would love to hear from you.