Thanksgiving Day story. This being that one American Indian “hero” Squanto who was instrumental in helping the Pilgrims was instructed by Christian friars in Europe in Bible study and Bible interpretation years prior to helping the Pilgrims in Plymouth.
Please consider adding a more thorough explanation for the reason of the celebration of Thanksgiving into school instruction. It is time that God be brought back into the public school curriculum.
Yours truly,
Barbara Nikonoff
Beginning in 1999, the intensity and frequency of storms considerably increased in the area of our residence. Even thunderstorms and other typical rainstorms resulted in high winds and torrential downpours. At our home a section of a neighbor’s driveway washed out onto our property resulting in much asphalt and gravel deposited in the backyard. Other thunderstorms and hurricanes resulted in large limbs breaking from trees and/or fallen trees and power outages. Needless to say, the yard cleanup from these storms accomplished by myself and occasionally son was arduous, laborious, strenuous, and all too frequent. After a hurricane in 2011 and due to the flooding of this storm, I decided to purchase a small gasoline powered generator to supply power to basement sump pumps and possibly the refrigerators. On October 29, 2011 an unusual early snow storm dropped several inches of snow resulting in many fallen trees due to the accumulation of a heavy wet snow on trees that were still bearing leaves. On October 29, 2012 a severe unusual hurricane struck the area depositing only about one quarter of an inch of rain but contained within its’ system extremely high winds. At about midnight, this storm was most harsh, snapping live hardwood trees at their base like thin twigs. This night I witnessed from a window one large tree on our property fall against another tree but its’ long large branches still hit a transformer attached to a telephone pole on the property that resulted in a power outage. In the morning, son and I surveyed the property (spouse was away on a business trip and due to airport congestion could not secure a flight home) for damages, to discover the large limbs of a tree blocking the entrance of our driveway. A third large tree was uprooted and fell with its’ fork wedged against another tree. Son and I removed the large limbs of the tree that had fallen across the driveway by using a dull electric chain saw connected to the gasoline powered generator and a reliable hand saw. Our family was without electrical power for about one week relying on the fireplace and oven that does not have an electronic ignition for heating, and candles and flashlights for light. The generator was disconnected from the refrigerators due to a sputtering of the generator, where the appliances were shutting on and off too frequently leading to a concern that damages to the appliances would occur. So the food contained in the refrigerators was moved outside to a table located on the deck connected to the house to provide for a cooler temperature. Later, a squirrel discovered this food and was caught helping himself to a small bounty. Exasperated, one then decided to discard most of the food. The storm created much devastation throughout the area especially to coastal communities where tide levels rose to destroy entire neighborhoods. I could not help but wonder if evil was somehow responsible for this storm. As many know, Stalin commanded Russians to pray to “God” to ask for an early snowstorm that