A strange and spooky week

Hi neighbors. Such an unusual week this has been.

It began with an early morning drive to Stockton in Cedar County to attend that county's historical society meeting Saturday. This time the meeting was in the old Hoff home, which is assumed to be the oldest house in Cedar County.

Although touring the house and hearing its history was interesting, the best part of the event was listening to members of the society tell their own stories about the Hoff family that had included statesmen, lawyers, teachers, and civic leaders in Cedar County since the Civil War.

A nice lunch with two members (who like most of the others) turned out to be relatives of one degree or another, brought the morning to a nice conclusion.

That evening was spent walking through the freezing cold Bushwhacker jail with Joplin ghost hunters, The Tri-County Paranormal Research Society, who busily took photos and digital audio recordings. I spent my time standing still and keeping quiet and if you know me at all you know that alone was abnormal enough to be scary! They certainly seemed professional in their attempts to catch some evidence of the paranormal. If anywhere would be haunted, the old jail would be I suppose. While it was in use as a jail, a more miserable place to spend even a day would be difficult to imagine, much less an eternity as a haunting spirit.

Maybe it makes more sense that the jail would be the last place to be haunted. Who could have the option to leave and not choose to do so? Any spirit left there would have to be in a very bad mood wouldn't they? Nevertheless, I personally detected no anomalies. Wait, there was one time when a floating, white cloud seemed to hover in the door of the jail. A ghost? Or just my eyes playing tricks in the dark? Maybe we'll know soon when the ghost hunters have time to sort through their hours of data and give us a report.

Now I don't mean to make fun, I have myself seen a ghost or two in times past, but how odd the investigators looked, taking photos of nothing and talking aloud to the air.

"At least they didn't answer themselves," as my mother would say, "so they're not crazy." My mother had lots of ways to tell if someone was crazy or not, none of which would be clinically relied upon by anyone in the mental health field. Talking to ones-self and then answering was considered one sure sign according to her.

I told her lots of people in the field of fine arts would be considered crazy then as I've seen actors and writers talk adamantly to themselves, acting out various scenes of a play or novel they were writing.

Anyway, that was Saturday night until Sunday morning.

All was well until Monday. It must have been something to do with the nearly full moon as the alarm clock went off early. The day continued to be one of strange although moderately affective events. You have all surely had days when it seemed the more you tried to get organized the more things just fell into confusion.

Tuesday began the welcome arrival of e-mails with new family information from family and friends I had met at the Cedar County Historical Society meeting.

Wednesday I discovered one of my neighbors lost her home in a house fire. I know of few sights less disturbing than seeing a home burning. So much of our lives are invested in our homes --financially and emotionally. The loss of a home is more than just the walls around you suddenly being gone.

Your home should be your safe harbor, your refuge, your place to rest and ready yourself for your next trip out into the world. What a horrible loss to have not only all of your possessions destroyed, but also your place of safety taken away.

I was glad to read that the little dog was rescued and no one was injured. Thank goodness for good neighbors who saw the smoke and acted quickly.

To lose our homes seems unthinkable to most of us, but it does happen. Please make certain your own home is safe and double check your heating devices and wiring circuits.

Until the next time friends remember, haunted or not, a family's home is their castle.

Keep your eyes open to help a neighbor in need.