QUARANTINE BLOG # 336

March 1, 2021

Black history month ended yesterday, and today begins Women’s History Month.  The QB will bridge those two with the story of Mary Fields, an African American pioneer in late 19th century Montana. 

Mary was born enslaved in Tennessee in the early 1830s.  After emancipation, she  traveled around the southern United States, eventually making her way to a convent in Toledo, Ohio, where she worked for the nuns washing laundry, managing the kitchen, and maintaining the convent garden and grounds.  The nuns ran a school for American Indian girls. 

Mary moved to Montana in 1885, to St. Peter’s Mission to care for Mother Mary Amadeus.  The two women knew each other before their time at the convent, and Mother Mary Amadeus was related by marriage to the family that had enslaved Mary Fields in Tennessee. 

St. Peter's Mission in Montana, 1887.

Some years later, Mary moved to Cascade, Montana where she was the only African American resident from 1886 through 1914.  In 1895, she obtained a contract to be a Star Route Carrier for the United States Post Office Department. A carrier was an independent contractor who used a stagecoach to deliver the mail.  She delivered the mail for eight years without missing a day of work – predating the Post Office’s motto of “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”  Mary was the first African American woman and the second woman – Polly Martin of Attleboro, Massachusetts was first – to contract for a Star Route.  After retiring from her postal route, Mary established her own laundry business in town.  She died in 1914 and is buried in Cascade.  

👉  The potato world, and a lot of other people were spitting spuds last week when news outlets and the ubiquitous – and very often inaccurate – social media were raving about the news that Mr. Potato Head would no longer be Mister, just Potato Head, and gender neutral.  

Well, that’s true and it isn’t.  And no that is not Orwellian 1984 “doublespeak.”  Hasbro announced that it was introducing a gender neutral version of the famous toy (another example of PC knuckling under to the part of society that talks the loudest).  There will be 2 adult plastic potatoes and 1 child plastic potato in the “Potato Head” set.  And after a hue and cry was raised, Hasbro “clarified” that they were not discontinuing Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head, only coming out with the new version that could go both ways, nor no way at all.

The QB does not apologize for the sarcasm with which this piece was written, and states a firm belief in Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

👉  Today is “National Dadgum That’s Good Day,” dedicated to delicious meals and time spent with loved ones – things that are both “Dadgum good!” “Dadgum, that’s good!” is the title of John McLemore’s cookbook series.  McLemore and his family are behind Masterbuilt, a cooking products company based in Columbus, Georgia, that manufactures products like fryers, smokers, and grills.  In 2015, they created “National Dadgum That’s Good Day” to celebrate an appreciation for good food and company.  Chicken casserole tonight at 233.  Dadgum that’s good!

👉  Our research department has discovered some interesting things you can do with Coca Cola.  Obviously the best thing is to pull one of the 1950s 6.5 ounce bottles (like the one in the picture below) out of a chest full of ice that’s been sitting just inside the door of the Loch Lynn Service Station, pop off the cap and enjoy that great cold taste.  Coke was never better (and the last of those bottles rolled off of the line in October 2012).

Well, if you want something else to do with Coke, you bakers can clean your favorite baking sheet which is covered with those impossible-to-clean grease stains.  Soak your baking sheet in a Coca-Cola bath overnight and the chemicals will help loosen some of those stains.  You’ll need to do a little scrubbing, but that pan should begin to look like new once again.

An old battery with corrosion can cause your car not to start, and it’s often hard to get rid of.  However, trusty Coca-Cola is here to save your car battery.  Carefully pour Coke over the terminals, let them sit for several minutes, and then brush away with a toothbrush. 

It’s finally getting warm and we’ll be going outside.  That’s good news to most of us, but some people seem to be a magnet that attracts pests, resulting in insect bites and painful itching.  Our favorite carbonated beverage can offer some relief for those itchy bites and stings. The phosphoric acid helps neutralize the bug’s saliva or venom and get rid of the itch.

Some more unusual uses for Dr. John Pemberton’s great invention tomorrow.

👉  Here are a couple of strips from Garfield:

👉  And one from Pearls Before Swine:

👉  The Pittsburgh Pirates won their first pre-season baseball game yesterday, beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-4.  Fans were shouting “Raise the Jolly Roger,” and “Start the parade!”  Well, no serious Pirates fan thinks there will be a World Series parade in Pittsburgh this year, but all of that reminded me of a sermon I preached at Macedonia on April 7, 2013: “I Believe in the Pittsburgh Pirates.”

👉  “The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever” (Psalm 22:26 – KJV).

The Lenten lectionary passages this week are about the companionship of God, a  promise of His presence in the life of believers, and a call to seek Him.

I read multiple translations of this verse from Psalm 22 (called by Charles Spurgeon “The Psalm of the Cross”) and only the King James Version uses the word “meek” in verse 26.  Other translations say “poor” or “afflicted.”

The word David uses is an adjective meaning poor, oppressed, afflicted, humble.  It develops a word picture of persons who put themselves after others in importance.  They are persons who are not proud, haughty, or self-assertive.  They are low in rank or position.  

Job uses it of “the needy who are pushed off the road,” and “the poor who are forced to hide” (Job 24:4).  

In Psalm 10:17, the singer says, “Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear.”

David and Jesus said “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Psalms 37:11; Matthew 5:5).  The word Jesus used means strength under control, like a strong stallion that was trained to do the job instead of running wild.  That is a very different picture than the way the world sees meekness.

The companionship promise of Psalm 22 is simple, God lifts those up who do not puff themselves up.  Those who put themselves after others are satisfied.  I like the way the Amplified Bible puts it: “Those who diligently seek Him and require Him as their greatest need will praise the Lord.”

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