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Rosalea’s Big Seven Ohhh!


Donate and help restore Rosalea’s Hotel!

Contributions may be sent to: Rosalea's Hotel Restoration Fund, 121 West Main, Harper, KS  67058


1883 & 1968 Rosalea's Patterson House Hotel

Were you a traveling hippie in the 1970s?  Perhaps you stayed at the famous Rosalea's Hotel in Harper, KS.  Now you can help restore it as an historic prairie icon of the 70s!    Goal:  100,000 at $10 each and it is preserved for future generations

BITS & PIECES

Cile Beer

IT’S MARCH!

It’s March and the winds do blow. But than, they blew in February, and January and.... So I thought of something else. The “ Ides of March.” I’ve always heard the term, but I never really was interested in finding out what it meant, so I looked it up today. The eighth day after the Nones in the Roman Calendar. OK, what are the Nones? In the Roman Calendar it is the 9th day before the Ides, inclusive reckoning - i.e., the seventh day of March, May, July, and October and the 5th day before the Ides, inclusive reckoning - i.e., Calendar it is the 9th In the Roman Calendar it is the 9th of other months. In others words, it means about the same as saying the winds blow in March, so what. Poor March. I thought the “Ides of March” was something unique. But wait!!!

“Sure an I love the dear Silver that shines in your Hair. And the brow that’s all furrowed and wrinkled with care.” “I’ll take you home again Kathleen.” “That’s an I-rish lull-a-by.” Oh how these bring back the days at St. Joseph’s grade school in Wichita. No, I’m not Irish, tho my mother’s ancestors owned a castle in Scotland and she is, somewhere down the line, related to Queen Elizabeth. I was just sitting here thinking I really can’t remember too much whoplah made about the Wee Leprechaun, a small mischievous sprite in Irish folklore. But perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me because it doesn’t want to remember some of the things we used to do as kids.

Which brings me to another subject, yet it is related in a way. There was an incident that happened recently in our house and it got me to thinking about these “little people.” When I was relating the incident to Cowboy (my spouse) I came up with the word Gnome and my mind began to play tricks on me. I started searching the recesses of my mind for other “little people”. I naturally came up with Leprechaun, Imps, Sprites, Gnomes, Spirits, Pixie, Brownie, Goblin, Gremlin, Elf, Fairy, Scamp and Troll. I knocked around the words Witches and Warlocks but after a thorough check with the dictionary I decided to eliminate them from this group as they seemed a little more than mischievous. I am sure being parents, we could add a few more little characters that would or could related to our children. Rascal, Monkey, Brat, Urchin, Mischief-maker and last but not least I must add, ANGEL.

Having a granddaughter born on St. Patrick’s day, I tend to notice the cute little Leprechauns the companies use in advertisements. Even though I have eaten my share of Lucky Charms, I have never run into a Leprechaun. I will admit the sugar in the cereal and the marshmallows tend to hype me up, but I can’t say it has caused me to go around pulling pranks on people. Maybe if I kissed the Blarney Stone it might render me unable to control my mischievous ways. Don’t get me wrong. I do like to pull a good prank now and then and I’ve pulled more than a few good ones in my day. If I was a worrier I’d not get any sleep at night waiting for a come back on one or two of them. Perhaps I should delete these last few lines so you don’t get the wrong idea of me. I’ve had this nursery rhyme repeated to me many times...There was a little girl. She had a curl right in the middle of her forehead, and when she was good she was very, very good but when she was bad.....Remember it?

I’m not really superstitious. I can walk under a ladder and protect myself from the falling black cat. Or avoid the can of paint as it crosses my path. Oh well, I may have it a little mixed up but you can tell I am not in the least superstitious. This incident I am going to relate did kind of make me stop and think a little. I didn’t say anything to Cowboy until the next day, when I broached the subject he started laughing.

Do I have your curiosity piqued yet?

This is what happened. One evening we were in the basement watching TV. It was getting late and I wasn’t especially interested in the program on TV so I went upstairs. As I walked into the bathroom I was shocked to find the roll of toilet paper in a pile on the floor. Now if we had had a cat or dog I wouldn’t have been surprised. I proceeded to roll it back on the roll and went back to the kitchen to start some cocoa for Cowboy. I was puzzled but put it out of my mind.

In the middle of the night I had to make another trip to the bathroom and found the same thing. The last 4 feet of toilet paper had been completely removed from the roll! This did give me second thought but not enough to spoil my sleep. It wasn’t until the next afternoon as we sat in the doctor’s office I mentioned to Cowboy the possibility we may have a Gnome at home. I related the toilet paper incidents to him. He started laughing and asked “Is the roll of toilet paper over the heat vent?” I was totally shocked. “Yes, why?” He said it happens all the time in the back bathroom. AND HE NEVER MENTIONED IT TO ME! We had been living here over 3 months and this was the first time it happened in the front bathroom.

I now watch which way I put the paper on the roll and hope this will discourage any hanky panky from the resident Gnome.

“I’ll take you home again Kathleen, Across the ocean deep and wide. To where your heart has ever been, Since first you were my bonnie bride. The roses all have left your cheeks, I’ve watched them fade away and die, Your voice is sad when err you speak, da, da, da, da, - da, da, da, da.”

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