"Teller-ing" It About

My grandpa loves me.  And I love him. 

He loves me so much that he pays for me to have a subscription to my hometown (well, home-county) newspaper, The Sargent County Teller.  I really enjoy keeping up on the important things that are happening back home, although not much really important stuff happens.

My favorite thing about small-town newspapers is the small-town news.  Usually, people submit "news" to the town's article-writer, who then compiles all of the information into a (sometimes) logical manner.  Take, for example, the "Brampton News" article in September 11th's paper, written by Marian Johnson: 

"Phyllis Dawson, Jennifer Walkins, Isabella, Braxton and Samantha Dawson spent Saturday in Aberdeen. Tammy Mathews, Phyllis Delahoyde and Megan Delahoyde spent Monday evening at a Card Stamping get together held at Oakes Grace Lutheran."

The population of Brampton, according to Wikipedia, is 66, so that probably explains why the author knows so much about its residents.  However, the authors also like to put their own tidbits of information and opinions into these "news" articles.  Another quote from the same article reads:

"Here is a little bit of info I came across among my accumulated notes.  Read and laugh or cry however it hits you.  The Four States of Man -- Believes in Santa, Doesn't believe in Santa, He is Santa and finally looks like Santa.

"Did you enjoy the long Labor Day weekend?  I certainly did but I am retired so every day is another holiday or vacation day.  Name it what you want.  My philosophy is what I do not get done today will wait until tomorrow or later.  Does that sound good or not?"

Yes, folks, this is a "news" article.  Very amusing. 

Anyway, the purpose of this post is for me to start a "Quote of the Week" from The Teller.  Maybe it will be something funny from a small-town news article, or maybe it will be something to live by, like this week's quote. 

So now, THE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"If you have time, be as strong as you can, for as long as you can."

The quotes comes from a front-page article about Paul Lundstrom, who recently moved to Gwinner and now works at Bobcat.  He suffers from cerebral palsy, which is caused by damage to the motor cortex during brain development.  Common symptoms of the disease include spasms, unsteady gait, toe walking or scissor walking, and problems with balance. 

None of these things have stopped Paul from modifying a three-wheeled bicycle to suit his needs.  He rides the tricycle in the evenings and on the weekends.  Despite his symptoms, he has ridden more than 1400 miles this year, and hopes to ride a total of 2000.  He is being as strong as he can for as long as he can. 

Kudos to you, Mr. Lundstrom.