Communing

If you want to make yourself crazy, accidentally  enable the "num lock" feature on your keyboard.  You will then find that some letters will give you numbers or punctuation, and vice versa.  I thought it was a sign of impending death for my laptop, but a spare USB keyboard allowed me to go online and sort it out.  There are some features I can do without.

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I've forgotten the official Lutheran policy on transubstantiation but it was obvious to me that I wasn't eating flesh or drinking blood.  Those little wafers reminded me of the food I use to feed my goldfish, thin little bits of what may have been bread; just melted in your mouth but would make a lousy sandwich.  They had two methods of serving the wine; individual fancy little shot glasses or the common cup.  The shots were small, as I recall, and I always worried about dropping it and looking clumsy in front of the congregation.  But the common cup was a treat.  Our minister used a heavy hand, giving you a good mouthful of that fine clerical wine from the big gold and silver chalice.  I'm not a wine drinker but I found it to be very palatable; I don't think they used the cheap stuff.  The warm glow afterwards made the rest of the church service tolerable, a good experience for eigth-graders everywhere.  Too bad about the grape juice, Uncle Ken.

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My Boy Scout troop (#862) met in a church also, but I don't think the churches actually sponsored them but just rented some cheap space.  Could be wrong.  There were four or five of us on my street that would walk to the meetings together, looking sharp in our uniforms.  After the meetings we always stopped at the local Coca Cola Bottling plant for a few drinks.  They had a machine that served nickel Cokes in the small bottles and didn't mind us hanging out as long as we put the empties into the rack.

We went camping about once a month except during the summer when a lot of people went on vacation.  State parks were a frequent destination and they were pretty nice but lacked amenities.  Pitching a tent in the snow builds character.

Fund raising wasn't something I paid much attention to but we did have spaghetti dinners and pancake breakfasts (all you can eat!) so I must have sold some tickets for those.  They were always well attended but I don't see them advertised anymore.  Maybe they sell something else nowadays but I doubt if anyone goes door to door in these modern times.  I don't think  parents let their kids out after dark anymore either, at least not alone.

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Ah, "chipped beef on toast," AKA "shit on a shingle."  It was a frequent breakfast item in the army but not usually your first choice.  They could have made biscuits and gravy nearly as easily and I don't know why they didn't.  SOS never tasted right, there was always something a little off about it.  Could have used more pepper, maybe, but if you're hungry enough you'll eat it.  And  we did.