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Category Archives: Kansas City
Diary of the Covid Vaccine
PPE&COVID19
The COVID pandemic began in the early 2020s. Early on, There was a definite lack of organization and duty to care, regarding the COVID-19 protocol, my hospital employer (management and supervisor) restricted use of PPE. Ie. nurses who wanted to wear face masks and paper gowns were discouraged from doing so. Such conduct bordered on abuse of company policy. OSHA requirements regarding PPE; the PPE policy is used more often to discipline employees. Rather than provide adequate PPE to employees for their protection from biological hazards, the policy is used to discipline employees who are observed not wearing gloves where indicated, (patients often are under the assumption that the gloves or masks are worn to protect the patient).CDC network of laboratory support was slow. Turn around time of COVID19 testing was delayed beyond reasonable time, unexpected of the richest country of the world with the capability of producing better. Where Lack of testing was noted, we were told physicians had direct control of ordering the COVID19 test, however who was advising the physicians? I witnessed patients that should have been tested but were not. What diagnostic information was being shared with the Emergency room staff and what advice was given to physicians about COVID19, the laboratory certainly didn’t have capability or information for mass testing?
When we asked the manager, “What information is available about antibody testing? ” I was told there was none and we wouldn’t be doing any. That of course changed. Everything changed, sometimes rules, protocol, procedures, supplies, changed several times a week if not daily.
I don’t trust happy talk, business propaganda. Over the years I’ve witnessed the salary and bonuses and benefits the CEO/President of hospital to the tune of millions of dollars a year, however my hourly wage has been stagnant for years. This year they offered 2.5% and attributed it to Coronavirus.

On May 6, 2020 AHS announced all employees to be tested for COVID19. We are to go to an online site to sign up for a time slot. However, my facility wasn’t available for a time slot, testing would take place in phases.
On May 8, 2020 AHS employer put employees testing on ‘pause’. The laboratory contracted for testing was overwhelmed. They will let us know when they resume the testing. In the meantime we are being issued one mask a day. The masks are not the usual mask we had in the beginning which were thicker and fit tighter, the new masks are more less a thin mask, loose fit, flatpiece of paper. I’m not sure it is protecting from COVID19, it became commonly acceptable.
Also should note of 400 employees tested no positives, however for every 50 outpatients tested for pre-surgery there has been 2 positive. Several different labs have been contracted to do COVID19 testing. The hospital lab only tests for COVID19 on in- patients, MAWD does pre- surgery patients ( I think the doctors got together to secure a lab for COVID19 testing so they could start doing elective surgeries again. And entirely different lab was contracted to test hospital employees.
Odd event, hospital is now hoarding certain supplies, our lab was forced to accept an order for 3 boxes of rubbing alcohol. Items we would normally have only needed two bottles for the whole year. We weren’t asked, we were told to place on our selves. Note they expire 9/22. I understand the supply guru won an award recently,*
I work 3 days a week (12 hour shifts) thus I work w-th/ f, and each week the rules, guidelines, and protocol changes, mostly leaning towards what ever the wealthiest department wants to do, referring to the surgery dEpt. surgery wants COVID19 testing on all its patients gets that testing, if those wealthy surgery doctors want to use an outside laboratory other than hospitals laboratory then that’s what the doctors will get, if nurses want more staff for their shift they get it, Labortory doesn’t get extra staff no matter how busy they get, it is a department that is regulated and documented and nit picked for everything. Medicare/Medicaid is allowed to place laboratory services in a part B plan thus pay for lab test based on lowest possible price, often undercutting the actual costs of the testing. Inequality in a for-profit system is destroying medical care. And all along the multi millionaire CEOs of hospitals, laboratories and don’t forget the insurance providers never provide adequate raises or bonuses to hourly core staff. It should be noted that I’ve been inadequately trained to handle patient registrations, there are 1001 different insurance companies, many not recognized by the computer, and many tests delivered to lab have to be hand registered, a very confusing process.
As of July4, 2020 the coronavirus is still a active pathogen causing a threat to society. The people are confused as to the wearing of masks, is it effective? others are saying, ” but I don’t actually know anyone who was hospitalized or died from this, it must no be that bad.” And all along we have a President who refuses to wear a mask or state any consistency in safety measures. Thus employers, healthcare industry, CDC, WHO, no one giving us a straight consistent information.
The question is why? Why have Corporate CEO allowed this president to make health services impotent? Why are we paid so little for our nursing and laboratory positions, while politicians rake in millions? Why do I have a deep cough, headache, hot and cold flashes and occasional SOB, but no fever, so my hospital employer has not attempted to test me? Well besides, working class people don’t feel sick, what is sick? if it doesn’t hurt bad enough to keep me down for the count then I’m going to work.
The CDC centers for diseases control is no longer a reliable source for guidance regarding COVID19 coronavirus as of July 8th, 2020. Trump the so called leader has corrupted the department of disease. There is an issue regarding schools. can they keep students safe? Our children at risk? Will they need face masks? Eating? Sharing?
The hospitals now report to Trump. The reports of positive and negative test results are now to be rerouted to the Trump administration instead of first being sent to the US Centers for Disease Control. Is that fake news? July 2020 exposes the worst of the Republican Party with COVID19. People are sick, people can’t afford medical care, people and their jobs determine who go to dr. Most jobs don’t pay enough or have adequate insurance coverage to go to a doctor it’s because the insurance industry is a junk system.
On July 12, 2020 Terry Shaw CEO of advent health was on face the nation, spewing propaganda about how his employees are protected and patients are being served during COVID pandemic. Mostly happy business propaganda. Talking from his ivory tower in Florida (known as corrupt republican FL) only this week did I receive an extra PPE a full face shield others requested goggles.
Supplies have been Alarmingly, testing issues have become so severe across the U.S. that people are simply not getting tested, likely out of frustration with delays. In the first week of August, when 50,000 new cases were being reported nationwide each day, testing demand in the U.S. actually fell 9.1%, the equivalent of about half a million tests, from the week earlier. (Time 8/12/20, Emily Barone)
On Aug 14 answered employer survey regarding safety and concerns about work environment. Is it a healthy environment? Is it a safe environment? This is part of the corporate happy propaganda theme, I don’t really know what it proves or suggests.
I am a worker, my life choices are limited by financial barriers, if I do the wrong thing I risk financial peril. As a child I thought going to college would secure my middle class lifestyle but sadly politicians and wealthy corporations made choices that boxed workers in, as we know wages are stagnant but not for CEOs. I wasn’t expecting to be filthy rich just thought I’d be able to own a house, send kids to good school, and drive a decent vehicle, and look forward to the same retirement money my father and his father enjoyed from a pension. During my 30 years I have filed bankruptcy 3 times, nearly lost the house to foreclosure but used 401k to keep the house, while my kids failed to thrive in public schools through it all. My hopes and dreams have been squashed, now I just want to survive to the next day, being able to retire comfortably is just a fantasy nothing I can reasonably expect to afford. my employer wants to know if I’m happy, safe and content with my work/home balance. It’s a joke, we’re expected to play along, act happy, appear healthy, and don’t make a mistake or you lose everything. So yes I’m exhausted.
Talked to old friend Luda from CRL she says they’ve been tested twice since June, some workers were found to be a symptomatic.
As of September 8, 2020, the covid 19 is still rising in America it is rising in Missouri cases of infection rising in Kansas. schools have open, today’s the first day of school; the news is still just suggesting that people wear a mask and they are starting to ramp up enthusiasm for a vaccine, which they say is right around the corner; it’ll be ready to be packaged out to hospital workers, police officers, front line people. I am skeptical about taking a vaccine that is less than a year in the making.
I would prefer that the vaccine be tested on many other people before it gets tested on me. I am not a guinea pig for the rich man, for capitalism. they say the CEO, who gets over $1 million a year, is paid that great amount because he or she takes the greatest risk in a business; well, if I’m dead, I certainly don’t understand what the hundred thousand dollar bonus did for that CEO, because I see no benefits for me.
City and county officials have made the wrong decision for communities since the beginning of the first American city. Back then they voted for all elm trees that only produce pollen to line the streets because fruit trees produce debri that needs a budget for cleaning. Those trees are number one cause of asthma and allergies. I expect officials in charge of mass health concerns like the CDC are making financial decisions at the risk of the people’s lives. And it’s wrong. Study science.
What Can We Do?
1. Sponsor local high school science club ( chemistry, biology, health) provide support for homecoming activities and scholarships .
2020 will be the year we saw that property is more important to our government than people.
Essential workers like hospital workers were burdened by misinformation regarding COVID, how it is transmitted, to how to control it.
After a long spring summer and fall of COVID19 AdventHealth finally provided N95 masks on November 28, 2020. This is a little late in the season. But now we have additional masks.
To be fair we have testing kits as of December but doctors not ordering test. Witnessed many who came into ER twice one day for mental status change, but first visit no Covid test ordered but second visit a positive test was found . Vaccine also available. But scheduling for the vaccine has been an issue. First come first served and I missed the first offering. Then feared taking the vaccine so based on Revelations of the Bible I’m declining. We threw patients Covid samples away if name date or doctors information was missing or wrong.
January 27, 2021 another year, a new President and we still have mass confusion on COVID19. In the early part of January 12, 2021 I got the first dose of the Moderno vaccine I’m expected to get a second shot on February 9. I’ve been tested for a N95 mask. But will only wear a n95 for entering respiratory isolation rooms. It’s not required otherwise. I wear a sponge face mask under a surgical mask I feel this gives me the best protection.
there have been over 400,000 deaths to COVID19 in the United States. While a new strain is picking up steam. Went to my moms for her Jan 26 birthday and her neighbor came over with a gift but wasn’t wearing a mask and commented how she can’t breathe wearing one. I told her I work at hospital I always wear a mask. So the general public still taking a lax view.
The emergency room physicians are still confused or misinformed regarding COVID19 testing basically the protocol has change several times, that doctors now have protocols reversed or steps crossed from previous guidelines. And I tried to tell a ER doctor there was a test available for testing her patients but she was insistent on ordering the other COVID19 test which I no longer had supplies for because protocol had changed. Doctor said I was argumentative so I let her order the test she wanted. I went home in tears, I never meant to cause an argument with a doctor god I never even speak to these people other than yes, dr, that test will be done STAT. Or, Dr I’m calling because your patient has a critical value. I rely on the doctor knowing the correct test to order, then I just work on performing the test. I don’t tell you what test to order but with COVID19 the rules change the manufacture changes, the testing sites change, the doctors symptoms for when to order have changed, who performs the testing has changed. Many things have changed and a change occurs every week.
I’m anticipating the new Biden administration will smooth the communications. Although republican like ideas hate socialized medicine a little stream lining, attention to detail and strict guidelines for use of science could greatly improve healthcare.
Today March 11, 2021, it’s been exactly 1 year since COVID19 was called a pandemic. Vaccines are being administered many cities are seeing reductions in infected positive. Nursing home are starting to let visitors in and many hospitals have stopped checking people at door for fever.
“For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 WMB
https://www.bible.com/1209/eph.6.12.wmbOn July 2021 hospital announced market adjustments to wage, this added about $3 to my hourly pay. It was a nice surprise, however it seems our wage is still $5 short.
Covid delta is picking up at least 9 died in last week and the icu is full as of August 12, 2021. This new variant is affecting children as well as unvaccinated adults. The infection in vaccinated is mild. Still republican governor’s are impeding the science and blocking efforts to protect the public with misinformation. Missouri is one of the culprits. While hospitals forge on with construction plans and growth.
In November 2021 my employer announce a Kansas goal to add more income to the teams that worked through the pandemic, the money set aside by the State of Kansas was given to the Kansas employer to divide as they wanted because they did so in an unequal manner. While some departments were given a bonus, other departments were given a double bonus and an additional amount was added to their hourly wage. The division was hurtful to the laboratory where many were not valued to receive the double bonus and none were given the additional hourly wage. It looks suspicious. I have no words; my only hope is to end my reliance on working for a corporation that values their laboratory staff so little
On december 3 2021 work sent out notice of suspension of cms vaccine mandate. This was brought on by a federal court to block the vaccine mandate. Although my employer believes the vaccine is the safest and effective tool to fight the virus and encourage all to get vaccinated they are suspending any action to enforce a mandatory vaccine.
Omicron variant in kansas dec 23, 2021
It continues, mandates and Cdc changes: on jan 12 2022 the us supreme court ruled fed osha mandates apply to 100+ employees and medical workers require vaccination.
June 7, 2022. Covid still infecting community. A new variant detected, in current lab about 3 a day are positive, down from when 15 or more were positive per day.
However, a new disease has entered the scene, it is Monkey virus, news is happy to report on it, that is show pictures, the effect to the skin is gross, very little is reported about specific outbreaks or precautions are not being addressed.
As my employer has kept water fountains covered and require I and patients use face masks, on feb 1 2023 President Biden announces he is ending the pandemic on March 11, 2023. Data suggest that Covid infections ate at 11%, with 500 persons dying a day. Our hospital ER is always busy with Positive Covid cases and Flu A, and RSV. Employer has still not added any new staff, and several more coworkers have quit/resigned due to stress.
I myself have been dealing with severe stress issues that have caused permanent issues with my health. There has been damage to my teeth because of stress caused by excessive work demands, a severe stomach ached and severe headache caused me to collapse at work and admitted to the ER where it was discovered I had hypertension. That hypertension was comfirmed by my primary care physician who then discovered the condition had adverse affects on my kidneys. I now have kidney disease and blood test taken every three months indicate my kidneys are getting worse. In addition, another stress producing ailment is shingles, I now have a very bad case of herpes Whitlow on the tips of my fingers, painful lessens on my fingers that wont go away and interferes with my ability to work. Typing is painful, opening jars is painful, touching patients is painful unknown if contamination possibly infectious to others.
I have noticed that the majority if repeat patients U draw blood from weekly or frequently, have all started to show cold sores on their lips. However, I am always gloved and I rarely see patients without a mask, but in recent days more patients are being lax with the mask allowing it to fall forward while wearing it or some need to pull it off when the phlebotomy procedure makes them SOB.
Profits of corporations still dictating and destroying the pursuit of happiness in America.
COVID19 and the MT(ASCP)
Are medical technologist (MT) helping the community in the detection of COVID19? While MT are trained clinical scientists that do testing on biological specimens to determine disease, in the case of COVID19 there is a lack of testing. MT perform flu and strep testing, but they don’t have the commercial testing kit for COVID19.
On March 3rd, 2020 I learned about the dangers and significance of COVID19. A plague, I thought about finding my masquerade mask resembling the plague mask doctors used during the plague of the 16th or 17th Centuries. “Plague doctors wore a mask with a bird-like beak to protect them from being infected by deadly diseases such as the Black Death, which they believed was airborne.” 1′
My husband bought me a new character to add to my dollhouse diorama. Some years ago I made a miniature version of a Labortory. My husband found the breaking bad character dressed in hazmat PPE. I’ve never seen the show “Breaking Bad”, The figurine fit perfectly.
I personally felt very safe working in a laboratory up until March 19. People started coming to the emergency room clearly needing testing for COVID19 but we didn’t know what supplies to give the nurse to collect a sample, we didn’t know who would be doing the testing, we didn’t have authority to speak up about what PPE should be required. My friend from St Louis called to say she couldn’t take what was going on in her laboratory so she was taking a leave of absence. I wanted to keep working I would comply with whatever management dictated.
Another red flag was-we had been hearing request from management to conserve PPE, nurses were being disciplined for using extra PPE to enter patients rooms that didn’t qualify for such protection. But each day the rules changed, or new guidelines were made available several times a day. This was exhausting on the staff.
Then of all things my hours were cut. I was asked to work one day a week. During a pandemic the laboratory staff was being sent home. Apparently the hospital is only treating essential conditions so there are no elective surgeries, most annual physicals cancelled, just like school is cancelled, a stay at home decree came across the land.
Bob’s Perspective
I first fell in love with the Trading Post when I became friends with the previous owner. He and his roommate were pattern makers, prototypers, mold-makers, and inventors. They were living in the building, using the first floor for business and rehabbing the building at the same time.
When my predecessors acquired the building it had no foundation, the first floor was open, undivided, unfinished, with a cracked and deteriorated concrete floor, giving way here and there to native soil. The second floor contained two small, shabby apartments.
In a fashion I would later learn to be typical of their cleverness, they first jacked up the building and poured a foundation UNDER it! (Originally the Trading Post had been built up the hill. When a new road was put in on the other side of a small pond separating it from the building, the owner drained the pond, hitched the building to mules, and dragged it down the hill to rest on a shale outcropping back-filled with dirt. And so it settled for more than a hundred years.)
Then they stripped the inside of the building and restuded it in its new configuration. After applying interior wall surfaces, they stripped the outside and resurfaced it as well.
Midway in the project, in 1982 they moved their business to a large, downtown commercial building and decided to part with the trading post. Years before, after dreaming someday it would be my home, I told them if it was ever for sale- I wanted it at whatever price they deemed reasonable.
You see, I am an attorney by profession, but I have been an artist showing in galleries since childhood, and a musician who has played in public almost that long. It was my dream, locked away in my law office on the 18th floor of a bank building downtown that someday I would live, work, and maintain music and art studios all in the same place.
One glorious day I received a call from Drake, the remaining partner/owner- “make me an offer!” I secured open-ended financing and met with him to learn his price. He stated a desired sale price and I unhesitatingly agreed! Two days later Drake called and requested a meeting. After a lengthy preamble about all the things wrong with the building, the failing water heater, the 5 roofs dating in part to the Civil War era, the unfinished 2/3 of the interior, Drake lowered the price by $5,000 and gave me a stern lecture on never accepting the first offer!!!
Well, after this magnificent display of compulsive honesty we became friends for life, in early 1983 I became the glowingly proud owner of the Trading Post. The first day as I sat delighted in my huge empty building the doorbell rang. A little old man from up the block came to welcome me to the neighborhood. He told me about the long history of the building- trading post, saloon where it is said Doc Holliday ran the card game, grocery store, plumbing contractor, junk shop, design studio, and finally to me. He gave me a wonderful old picture of himself as a boy standing his uncles in front of the building with wood-spoked wheel delivery trucks and handlebar moustaches when he worked in the grocery store.
Despite all the work they had put into the restoration I was still left with a daunting task. The first floor was an undeveloped disaster. I had to stud in and build walls, pour a 2000 square foot floor, build a law office and studios, a darkroom for photography, and so forth. The second floor living space of 2500 square feet could only be entered by a 45-degree ladder from downstairs, or by climbing pile of wooden peach crates to reach the two doors, unaccountably hanging 4 feet above the ground! (The building was on a slope so that both floors were theoretically ground accessible.)
The living space was partially beautifully finished in oak truck bedding, doors, window treatments, and trim. Drake had purchased a freight car load of oak left unpaid in a bankruptcy and the whole interior shoe with luscious red oak, but there was a looooong way to go!
At first the building was wonderfully empty which suited my “Italian Industrial” style taste. The problem was that decades upon decades of settling and decay had warped and tilted every floor and angle in the place! Without adding optical illusion furniture and wall hanging placements one quickly felt like a drunk in a fun house walking about the building!
Of course the spare gallery look was not to last. As the work progressed, the artwork and guitars accumulated, and the junking expedition prizes were turned into furniture and light fixtures it took on a different look. In truth it was a full 12 years before I declared the job “done.” But of course it was not. A new roof, the yard cleared of anything that had to be mown for rock garden, hot tub, an 8’x30’ herb garden, and an outside home for our duck, many revisions, new bathroom, this and that, and here we are today.
Somehow 30+ years has filled the building with art work, one of a kind furnishings, odd antiques, musical instruments, and my new art hobby 1:12 scale miniature buildings, 10 of which now crowd the living room display space along with an enclosure for our two bunnies. Hardly room for another drawing!
Today it is a quirky but wonderful home for my wife, a scientist and talented artist, and I. What will it become next? Who is to say? Check with Terrie regularly on her blog Myhouse thetradingpost.com to find out!
Art Space
Bob Simons’ artwork has been featured at many of the Kansas City Crossroads Arts District and local art galleries, as well as galleries in Santa Fe. Denver, and elsewhere. The popular work of Bob Simons is now available to online shoppers.
A unique photographer and artist, he captures interesting subjects in his works. His photographs, prints, and paintings have added electric color and interest to the walls of this old Westport house. I have been trying to get Bob to share his great art with collectors and decorators. One way I have tried to market Bob’s art is on ETSY and EBAY. I thought for sure others would love to hang a print in the bedroom, dress up a wall behind the sofa, wherever; these prints would make a perfect gift for those who love art.
Prints are available on 8×10 inch, 11×14 inch, 16×20 inch, 16×24 inch, and 18×24 inch paper. The prints can be made to order in custom sizes up to 48 inches. Also available as wonderful transparencies that combine the magic color of rear illumination with sufficient “night” light to illuminate a hallway. I am happy to teach and encourage buyers to inquire about transparency projects. Placing a transparency picture in a light box is a special way to display art.
The Belles of Westport My House The Trading Post
In 1909, Mrs. Carrie Westlake Whitney, the librarian, wrote of her account of her first visit to Westport (1881), “there was incessant hammering and banging from a dozen blacksmith’s sheds, where the heavy wagons were being repaired, and the horses and oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men, horses, and mules. While I was in town, a train of emigrant wagons from Illinois passed through to join the camp on the prairie. A multitude of healthy children’s faces were peeping out from under the covers of the wagons. Here and there a buxom damsel was seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt face an umbrella or a parasol, once gaudy enough, but now miserably faded.”
My house the trading post, in Westport (Kansas City, Missouri), once catered to the families of sturdy, good people, whose life was that of the frontier. The rules and manners of the parties attended, were at the discretion of the host. A party at the old Westport saloon would have involved dancing and a “kissing” game. This would be followed by a “supper” that included pumpkin pie, peach pie, and buttermilk. Afterwards, the fun would continue with a run through the backwoods with candles.
With the room lite with candles that “shone brightly upon the fair maidens with glossy water-falls, delaine tissue dresses, hoop skirts and family jewels.” In 1850, dancing in Kansas City, was forbidden by the churches. The young folks were allowed to have large parties, accompanied by some older persons, but the kids refused to call them “chaperons.” For fun, packs of teens, would take a passage on one of the Missouri River Boats, and dance on deck to the fiddler music. A jolly captain, with a crew that supplied the teens with good southern cooking, made this excursion highly enjoyable.
The most desired and eligible young men were from Westport. The prettiest and wealthiest girls were from Kansas City or Independence. The finest parties were hosted by the sons and daughters of the first trading post merchants, saloon owners, and farmers. The Santa Fe trade made these families wealthy. Their parties were legendary and drew in all the prettiest girls.
Before bridge parties and book clubs were popular, quilting parties were the social occasion for the mothers and daughters. Some girls would travel ten miles to arrive as early a nine o’clock in the morning, to quilt. The ladies arrived by carriage, pulled by one of the girl’s own personal riding horses. The women sat on rush bottom chairs around a quilting frame while stitching in different areas. In the company of the other quilters, pioneer women, brought up with cortly manners and elegances, kept their words polite.
The Belles of Kansas City, Missouri in 2014, are beautiful, well-mannered ladies, with charisma and a flair for taking pictures. Among the popular activities in Kansas City for kids to do include, playing soccer, hanging out at the Plaza and Union Station, and joining a modeling class. Here are a few more photos:
My House The Trading Post From The Crane
1960 46th and Bell Antique StoreWork is like this old fable, The Wolf and the Crane.
“A Wolf who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: “Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf.”
Westport Missouri, from the time it was formed until present day, has been a working class neighborhood. Wars have taken place, the burning of Mormons, the Mexican War, Civil-War, Women’s Rights and other notable history. Business continued despite these events.
I write my blog from my house the trading post. The past owners of this property were young and old people. This building holds the ghosts of the pioneers, Indians, and business owners. Its greatest contribution to history is the fact that it just exists. It has to be noted that it is a wood structure. It is remarkable that the building has existed this long, despite the number of wars, battles, and fires that took place, and the capitalist nature of the city to knock it down and rebuild. And it survived Missouri weather.
The history of Kansas City, too often discuss the same characters, like; McCoy, McGhee, Yoacham, Boone, Ewing, Vogel, Harris, Wornall, Hickman, Thomas Hart Benten, Samuel C Roby, Henry Clay Pate. Here is a short list of who had a trading post or tavern in Westport in the 1800s. It is important to note that this is not a complete census. The town was already, very big by the time the pre-civil war saloon, I live in, was built in 1853.
The goal or lifestyle of the Westport Missouri residents would have been work. They were young working class men and women. Many of the first settlers would have been in their twenties. As the town grew successful and Kansas City dug away the dirt and flattened the cliffs along the Missouri river, these pioneer families grew wealthy and moved into new homes and buildings creating downtown Kansas City. The growth in downtown Kansas City established new public-houses and buildings; built in a wise manner, with a more expressive display of dignity, even though some of the establishments were for the distribution of spirituous liquors.
This was the nature of the city, and has been ever since. Kansas City tends to invest in a new construction project, often centered on building another shopping and entertainment area, and then new construction for residential housing communities. Problem is, we haven’t run out of land. Kansas City has about 116 square miles of real estate. In Kansas City we don’t build up, we build out. Creating older communities that struggle for business. New city projects always bring in the newest technology, however, the consumer only needs the basic comforts from life.
To maintain a reasonable life-style I must work forty plus hours a week. The hours each day reserved for work are not my favorite. The work day begins at 5:30 am when the alarm goes off. I have to work at waking up. It is my habit to push the snooze until six or six thirty. I could stretch it to seven but then I wouldn’t get breakfast or have time to pack a lunch. I plan my lunch the night before. I usually have it set aside, in one area of the refrigerator. The extra time allows me to make last-minute changes as I fill my lunch bag in the morning.
I have to follow a routine to get through the hurried work morning. I shower, dry hair, moisturize, and dress. My wardrobe picked out the night before, it doesn’t have to be dressy. I choose between a blue or black, or pink uniform, and if they are dirty, I wear jeans. I prefer to wear the hospital uniform because I work in a laboratory. I perform medical testing, and I splash a lot of serum. If I’m in my scrubs when I get home, I remember I am still contaminated, but when I’m in my jeans I get comfortable, and forget I may have blood splashes on my cloths. Ack!!
By 7:30 am I am on the highway. I start the first mile or so at normal speed. By 7:37, traffic is 20 mph. I have never figured out why each day traffic slows to a crawl for several miles. Then a few minutes later I’m traveling the speed limit again and there is my exit. I manage to get into the parking lot at 7:57, my shift starts at eight. On Saturday’s shift, I get to work fifteen minutes earlier, because there isn’t any traffic.
My work days, at the laboratory, vary between Monday through Friday, or Tuesday through Saturday. By 9:00 am, I am homesick. But I don’t let on. I blow my nose, and keep looking for specimens. The morning is slow. Not many doctor offices have sent in any specimens, we are just working on orders that were added on, overnight. This is the hard part, the blood specimens have been put into a numbered order in the walk-in refrigerator. Some associates love the cooler, I hate it. But I’m responsible for the chemistry testing and must find seven specimens, in seven different boxed compartment, in the cold. My white lab coat provides some warmth. Burr!
The first weekend of every month I coach/teach a girls modeling class. A very long weekend. I feel kind-a catatonic. Zombie-ish. I try to incorporate some of that positive thinking I teach the girls, but I get tired, tired, tired. Then I don’t care, and find conversing to be a chore. Believe it or not, I like my jobs…but when striving to make another person a buck, I wonder about a lot of things. Like, why am I here?
Then it is ten in the morning, and I smile, because it is break time. I leave my white jacket on the chair, and I go to the little room that contains the only clean sink and food worthy refrigerator. I have fifteen minutes. In my pocket, I set my phone timer. During this time I wash my hands, blow my nose, wash my hands, go to the toilette, wash my hands. I nibble on fruit, salami, and cookies, while I guzzle a coke-cola. My stomach gurgles, and I give a small belch. A silly little tone vibrates from my pocket, it is time to go back. Later, I’ll take a thirty minute lunch and if time allows another fifteen minute break in the afternoon-right before I go home for the day.
With my lab coat on, I pray the hours will go by quickly. Number, after number, specimen after specimen; slowly I turn, checking name, identification number, and test order against the computer screen. Two computer screens, 1500 specimens, and a chemistry analyzer that has a mind of its own. I run several monstrous size equipment that divides the entire room. These analyzer perform the testing that once upon a time a scientist performed in test tubes with titration biurets and apparatuses. At four o’clock, I set the timer for 4:30. I try to bring the beast down, but the specimens keep coming in, I saw on the pending list that we only had 38 specimens left to complete, now there are 128. This happens every night. Doctors add more tests, after they have received the testing results. Thanks to modern computers, what the doctor sends in that day, the doctor can get results for. But, I’m contracted to stay till 4:30. We are technically, open until 5:00pm. I feel this is so similar to the fast food service industry. “May I help you?”
A few of those specimens will not get done tonight. The laboratory manager will be tense and I do not want to tell the doctors whose test results will be delayed. The lab will open at four in the morning and start the whole process all over again.
The work day may bring the blues, but the treasures within this house can almost always brighten my mood. In my bed cloths I move from room to room in this huge saloon from long ago. I carry a load of laundry through the house. I put the load of dirty cloths in the washer. I drop a quarter into the juke box. A 1954 Wurlitzer plays my selection, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” With no one in sight, I dance and sing along. At work I have my I-phone tunes, but at home I have the treasures the wolf left behind.
A Saloon’s Treasure
A 1954 Jukebox, plays only 50’s tunes.Back to History, my house the trading post
Westport property values rose during the Depression. The area south of my house the trading post, between State line and Homes Street, where the Civil War Battle of Westport took place, was bought by J.C. Nichols. Mr. Nichols designed streets with running streams, lush plantings, and stone walls and bridges. The Country Club Plaza District was born.
The land around my house the trading post was still farmland. Between 1910 and 1920 the neighborhood had been bought and small depression era family homes were built. My house the trading post became a small neighborhood grocery store.
The Country Club Plaza district offered modern houses and a sophisticated shopping village. In fact, the Plaza shopping center was the most imaginative shopping center of the world. There were luxurious specialty shops and department stores set in Spanish tiled, stucco buildings, with outdoor fountains, statuary, and flowering trees.
The Plaza drew in clients from the surrounding areas, of new homes in Westport, and the new Plaza apartments and from the entire region of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The luxury of the Plaza exists today. Over the years, employees from Kansas and Nebraska enjoy annual meetings and business trips at the Country Club Plaza. A trip to Kansas City is jammed packed with entertainment, shopping, and good food, all in walking distance.
Westport has always been the more urban entertainment area, but in the 1920s it became even flashier. Going to the movies and dancing were the favorite activities. One young flapper girl, named Lucille LeSeuer won a Charleston Dance Contest that sent her to Hollywood. That young girl was Joan Crawford.
Main Street 1853
- Parks and Boulevards, 1908
What Boys Like, my house the trading post
Kansas City pecans are some of the tastiest nuts around. The nuts are sweet and oil rich compared to southern states. Missouri river towns, like Kansas City, offer fertile soil and sunny conditions for pecan trees. Many pecan trees were planted in the 1800s.
We have a friend who has a pecan tree; he gathers up a bag full that have fallen to the ground. The shucks starting to split open. It is easy to remove the shells. The price of pecans at the local grocery store is about $18 a pound. I wouldn’t pay that much. I enjoy my nuts fresh and free from the ground. Making pecan pie from scratch is often cheaper and tastier.
Since our friend dropped off a bag of pecans and our pet duck (Squeaky) has started laying eggs again, I needed to do something with these God given gifts. As a food ‘snob’ I prefer store bought chicken eggs for breakfast. However, anything with enough sugar in it, I’ll eat. My husband never objects to anything I serve.
I know what boys like. They like my pecan pie. So here’s my recipe for Pecan Pie. Enjoy!
PECAN PIE
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Corn Syrup
2 tablespoon margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1-1/4 cups pecans
Pie Crust
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup fake butter/ shortening
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
4 tablespoon cold water
Make the pie crust first (or use a prepared pie crust).
In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt.
Next, cut the shortening into the flour mixture until pieces are the size of a small pea.
Combine the vinegar and water and slowly sprinkle into the flour.
Gather the moistened dough into a ball, refrigerate for ten minutes or more.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
Place all the pecans on a greased cookie sheet/baking sheet.
Roast pecans for a few minutes, carefull not to burn. Cool.
Beat the 3 eggs in a medium bowl.
Add brown sugar, corn syrup, melted margarine, vanilla, and nutmeg.
Stir in pecans.
Roll out pie crust and line a pie pan.
Pour pecan mixture into pie crust.
Bake 50 minutes.
A knife inserted into the edge should come out clean.
Serve warm, cold, with ice-cream, or just on plate.
Yummy!
Hipster Scene, my house the trading post
Hipsters are associated with places like Chicago, New York, and San Fransisco. WordPress.com is my hipster scene. Here the talented writers are artist, illustrators, and photographers. They have interests in farming, fashion, history, language, poetry, and an array of art.
WordPress.com is my favorite place on the web. I can get lost for hours. I am mad for followers. I try harder and harder each day to find meaningful words to share and sigh that my photo album only has a handful of pictures.
Linked to my Facebook page, a more private site, where 355 of my friends view my WordPress posts. I am dedicated to providing my Facebook readers one good photo with the first dozen or more words the most meaningful or most interesting statement. Because that’s about all my Facebook friends will read. They don’t take advantage of the full story and they are quick to ‘like’ the photos more than the content. I don’t believe my Facebook friends follow the WordPress link. In return, I read their posts of fluffy kittens, family illness, naughty rants, and birthday gifts.
I receive meaningful and thoughtful comments from my WordPress followers. A hipster scene, although not limited to the men and women in their 20s and 30s, WordPress.com bloggers value independent thinking. Among their thoughts are the counter-culture, and progressive politics. They appreciate art, all types of music, creativity, intelligence, and they are witty.
Go, Go, WordPress.com!
I now want to share my dream to publish the following Children’s Book, Squeaky The Duck.
Daffy and Donald move over, Squeaky is taking over. http://petduck.wordpress.com
MY HOUSE THE TRADING POST 