Mile-marker 700

Ran 5 miles this morning and that took me past 700 miles. That’s a nice round number.

I wanted to celebrate the blog sailing past 10,000 visits, too, but that nice, round number was busted by cyber-stalkers and their mega-downloads. Total buzz kill.

Overheard in the Wolfe House #174

Peggy: I saw the cat playing with what I thought was a worm this morning, and then it started moving its thousand legs and I realized it was a centipede. Or a millipede.
Sam: Oh, wow.
Peggy: It took about five hits with the fly swatter to kill it.
Sam: Why did you kill it?
(long, long pause)

Talk to yourself and grow your brain

I have overheard my children talking to themselves over the years. This is a habit I don’t have. Where I grew up, that was a sign someone had the crazies. But raising Sam taught me not to judge. He got the talk-to-yourself ball rolling for the younger generation around here. I asked Michael once recently, what did he think of all this talking to oneself. He was cool with it.

Apparently, so are the scientists.

After taking gold

Left to right, Bonanza, Sam and me. Photo taken by Susan Harrell Knoll. Sam just took gold in Class A English equitation. The man rides like someone who grew up on the back of a horse. Maybe he can take it down a notch and try out for the regular Olympics now.  

Homemade Nutella

2/3 cup hazelnuts
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 T. honey

Toast hazelnuts on a cookie sheet at 400 about 15 minutes. Skins will be very dark. Immediately wrap them in a kitchen towel and rub the skins off. Put the hot hazelnuts in the food processor and process until liquefied (about 5 minutes). Combined the sweet milk, chocolate chips and honey in a bowl and microwave one minute, stir, and return for 30 seconds at a time until the chips are melted. Stir into hazelnut butter and process until very smooth, 3-5 minutes. Pour into glass jar with a tight lid and store in refrigerator.

Position of trust

Emails have been flying for the past week from Riding Unlimited, although I have yet to see anything official from the board of directors. All we know in the Wolfe house is that two people who have been a part of Sam’s extended family for more than a decade are suddenly gone. And just two weeks before RU is to host regional Special Olympics, we hear rumors of a “new direction.”

Sam is upset that a place that is as important to him as his home, his school and his church now appears to be in jeopardy. Thank goodness he’s a level-headed bloke and he’s not making any big moves just yet.
I have this much to say for now. Nonprofit boards often go through periods of weakness, and so the staff and volunteers get strong, or the entity folds. It’s when boards try to right themselves that things get truly dangerous.
They forget what sustained them in the down time.
And then they do the one thing they shouldn’t. They bite the hands that kept them alive.
How did they get through a down time? It wasn’t money. Nonprofits never have enough money. Ever. Get used to it.
What sustains them is passion and caring and a sense of community.
What sustains them is people.
The things we value most in life have seemed, to me, to also be incredibly fragile. Few people are wise enough to be responsible for those fragile things.