Hidden Depths

Personal 3 Minutes

One of the highlights of our Saturday shopping expedition with our granddaughter was PIZZA for lunch!  The pizza place in the mall is in the food court on the upper level of the mall.  Disclaimer: Food Court at this point in time is probably a misnomer.  The upper level used to have a Friendly’s Restaurant anchoring the section on the left, followed by a Burger King, an Arby’s, a Video Arcade, a Chinese Restaurant, a deli, the pizza place and a coffee stand.  On the opposite side of the food court was the cineplex.  Today, the Chinese place, the pizza place and the coffee stand are all that remains of the “food court”.  Sad.

Today, however, the mall was buzzing.  The Easter Bunny was in house for photos and vendors were on site—mostly businesses, but a few crafters as well.  Upstairs, we got our pizza slices and drinks and sat at a table to enjoy our food and people watch a bit.

We weren’t disappointed!  The older folk were mostly in jeans and shirts, jackets, that type of thing, but the younger people?  My goodness! Ripped jeans, short skirts, and far out shoes—each more outlandish than the previous ones!  But one guy stood out.  I saw him standing at the pizza counter and he was sporting a bleached pony tail pulled over his left ear protruding under a ball cap turned sideways.  His face was adorned by several piercings and his earlobes sported giant purple buttons—not ON his lobes—IN his lobes.

As he was ordering pizza, a woman approached with a toddler and a stroller.  She had BRIGHT blue hair, at least 4 pairs of earrings and looked to be dressed in 3 or four layers.  I could see leggings, and a plaid skirt, and several brightly colored shirts under a thin jacket. 

The toddler was a little girl, with delicate features but big brown eyes, wearing an adorable matching outfit in soft pink.  The baby in the stroller was equally striking and smiling profusely.

As we ate, we all seemed to watch the couple and the family dynamic unfolding.  The mother seemed brutish and the father quite timid and I realized we were staring at them like they were in an aquarium tank. So I hurried everyone along so we could leave the food court.

Our granddaughter wanted to go to Burlington’s and she found several items she wanted to try on.  Grandpa sat outside in the mall area, while I went with her and sat outside the dressing room.  I watched ladies come and go, browsing and going in and out of the dressing rooms when something bright blue caught my eye. I turned and saw the young woman storming thru the aisles.  Lagging behind her was the young man pushing the stroller. The baby was swaddled in a blanket and the toddler was grasping the side of the stroller and walking along.

As I sat and watched, he spoke softly to the toddler and cooed to the baby.  As they passed me, the toddler was saying “wowwowwowwow…” and the young man was repeating “wowwowwowwow…” and smiling at her.

It was perfectly charming and adorable.  Then the toddler stopped suddenly and stared up at him and reached her arms up.  He swiftly picked her up and cradled her close and kissed her forehead.  She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and hugged him. 

All my preconceptions about the young man vanished and I found myself smiling at the young father and admonishing myself. When the young man saw me smiling, he blushed and smiled back at me.

You never know what lies beneath the surface…in the hidden depths.

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Published by pat frederick

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74 thoughts on “Hidden Depths”

    1. Good morning Pat! We have had cold mornings, but warmer days. Looking forward to putting my tomatoes in the garden in about a week and a half! Sowing beet seeds this weekend and hopefully doing some of the punch-list stuff I have left on the kitchen.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Morning CM!
        we did see some of the snow melt yesterday afternoon—more with sunshine than temps that’s for sure. but that makes our little garden a muddy mess…
        if we have less moisture in the next few days I’ll probably try to till it by hand.
        we’ve had a parade around the pond just now…5 doe and now looks like 3 hen turkeys…
        and the wood ducks were back for a cold dip this morning

        Liked by 2 people

  4. copied from wolf’s…I wonder if this is common (and we never paid much attention) or is this sabotage?

    Sadie SlaysOffline
    Coyote
    April 20, 2022 00:55

    Inspired by Gab, I started a list of food processing plants that recently burned down or were otherwise damaged:

    4/18 – Azure Standard organic food plant burns down

    4/15 – Fire at largest soybean processing plant in US

    4/13 – Plane crashes into potato processing plant in Idaho.

    4/13 – Taylor Farms plant in Salinas burns down.

    4/13 – Pet food plant in Pennsylvania has a minor fire.

    4/11 – Slaughterhouse in New Hampshire burns down.

    3/24 – Potato processing plant in Maine burns down.

    3/17 – Nestle food plant in Arkansas burns down.

    2/22 – Large explosion at Shearer’s Food plant in Oregon.

    2/3 – Meat Processing plant in Wisconsin burns down.

    1/13 – Fire at an animal feed mill in Louisiana

    1/11 – Fresno dairy burns down

    1/7 – Multiple alarm fire at Canadian poultry plant

    12/23 – Two-alarm fire at pet food plant in South Carolina

    Liked by 3 people

  5. FILLY!!!!!!
    REALPOTUS is coming to Nebraska!

    BobC
    April 20, 2022 6:54 am

    And the next rally has been announced….

    President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, will hold a rally in Greenwood, Nebraska, on Friday, April 29, 2022, at 8:00PM CDT.

    Venue: I-80 Speedway 13909 238th Street Greenwood, NE

    Special Guest Speaker:
    Mr. Charles W. Herbster, American Agribusiness Executive and Candidate for Governor of Nebraska.

    He never stops working!

    Liked by 3 people

        1. Oh, he’s MAGA in some ways but more the corporate way – worked for Trump. Problem is, he is really based out of MO, not NE. This is an anti-Herbster site but there is some hinky shit going on with that man!!!!

          EXCERPTS: “Charles Herbster lives in Kansas City, Missouri. While he owns a family farm in Falls City, Nebraska, it’s primarily used as an office for Herbster Angus Farms. Conklin Company, Inc., Herbster’s company, owns a $1.5 million, overpriced condo in downtown Omaha. If your privately-held corporation owns the condo, can it really be called a “home”?

          Like most totally normal people, Charles Herbster owns a home worth $500,000 in Kansas City, Missouri, which he refers to as a “guest house.” When pressed about where he lives, Herbster claims he’s only stayed in the Kansas City home maybe “two nights since 2017.” With the headquarters for Conklin Company in Kansas City, why has Herbster only been to that “guest home” only two to three times in four years?

          Given that the farm in Falls City is actually an office and Conkin Company owns the Omaha condo, where does Charles Herbster live? It’s obvious Charles Herbster’s home is in Kansas City, Missouri.
          ——————
          Notably, Herbster was late on his personal property taxes due in September, rather than the ones due in May. On average, the late taxes on Charles Herbster’s properties totaled $20,000. Why was Conklin Company short between $10,000-$40,000 for payroll and that shortfall occurred more frequently in September? Payroll ran approximately $154,000 for a two-week period, but Herbster couldn’t pay $20,000 in payroll taxes…. Hmm.

          In addition to the oddity about why Herbster was late in September of each year, Herbster likes to throw donations at political campaigns.

          In 2015, Charles Herbster was late on over $30,000 of personal property taxes, but he donated almost $2.7 million to former state senator Beau McCoy’s losing campaign for Nebraska governor. Why was Herbster claiming his personal property taxes were late so he could cover Conklin Company’s payroll, but he had millions to throw away on Beau McCoy’s race?
          ——————
          Charles Herbster owns Conklin Company, Inc., which has an office in Kansas City, Missouri and a roofing materials manufacturing facility in Shakopee, Minnesota.

          According to the Small Business Administration, Conklin Company, Inc. in Shakopee, Minnesota received a PPP Loan for $1,547,410. Herbster’s PPP Loan was forgiven on December 9, 2020.

          Herbster requested the PPP Loan for Conklin Company’s payroll. Conklin Company posted several times on Facebook that sales records were broken in 2020 and 2021. Additionally, Conklin Company stayed open during the COVID-19 global pandemic lockdowns.

          While PPP Loans could be forgiven, recipients also had the chance to repay the loan. Charles Herbster could have repaid the money he borrowed from US taxpayers, but he instead sough forgiveness.”

          More: https://cancelherbster.com/herbster-faq/

          Liked by 1 person

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  8. Uh-oh! More trouble for the Herbster campaign – first I’d heard of these accusations! I am somewhat familiar with Julie Slama – she is a good one! When I was still on FB, I saw a lot of her posts, all of which I agreed with wholeheartedly. Of course, this is Business Insider so they bring up all the accusations against Trump, too.

    EXCERPT: “Donald Trump’s political arm announced on Tuesday that the former president will campaign with Nebraska gubernatorial hopeful Charles Herbster, whose campaign is rocked by multiple assault allegations — including from a sitting state senator there.

    Trump will rally with Herbster on April 29 at a local racetrack not far from Omaha. Trump’s decision to endorse Herbster previously rankled more establishment Nebraska Republicans, but a report in which six women accused Herbster of groping them has upended what was already a contentious race.
    ————————-
    The Nebraska Examiner, an independent nonprofit news organization, reported last week that six women accused Herbster of inappropriately touching them. A seventh woman said Herbster, a businessman who made millions as a cattle breeding executive, kissed her without her consent. At the time, only state Sen. Julie Slama went on the record with her allegation that Herbster groped her. One of Herbster’s allies responded by suggesting that Slama should disclose what she was wearing at the time of her alleged assault. She later did and slammed the response as evidence of why women generally don’t come forward with such accusations.

    On Monday, more people publicly came forward to support the allegations. The individuals told the Examiner, which bears no relation to the DC publication of the same name, that they were partially motivated by Herbster’s response to the accusations.

    “I think that’s ridiculous,” Edward Boone, a Nebraska legislative aide, told the publication of Herbster’s denials that called the allegations “lies.” Boone added, “because I’ve seen him first-hand grope a woman.”

    Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, who is term-limited, has stood behind Slama and the other women. Ricketts, former Gov. Kay Orr, the first Republican female to be elected governor of a state, and Slama have all endorsed Jim Pillen, a member of the state board of regents. Orr previously called on more men to substantiate the claims against Herbster.”

    https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-to-campaign-with-charles-herbster-nebraska-candidate-facing-groping-allegations-2022-4?op=1

    Liked by 1 person

    1. So I will be voting for Jim Pillen, altho he’s not perfect, by any means! I was told by one of Todd’s friends that he is a bastard to work for but…….that’s only one comment and who knows what the motivation was for that comment.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. long article but it details the lies told to the see eye a and fib…but also the depths the dems went thru to surveil a sitting president
    FTA
    Newly released CIA memoranda suggest the tech gurus behind the Alfa Bank hoax also tracked Donald Trump’s movements to devise another collusion conspiracy theory. While smaller in scale than other aspects of Spygate, the Yotaphone hoax represents an equally serious scandal because it involved both the mining of proprietary information and sensitive data from the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and the apparent surveillance of Trump’s physical movements.

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/20/new-documents-suggest-democrats-sicced-the-cia-on-their-domestic-enemy-the-president/

    Liked by 1 person

  17. TGP headlines

    CDC Assembles Team of Overlords to ‘Forecast’ What’s Next in Pandemic – Will Communicate Policy Options Based on How Virus is Behaving—– I think you mean how the election is going

    The CDC Removes All Countries from Its Highest Level of Travel Warnings – Still Pushes Vaccines—– Cash cow

    Elon Musk RIPS “Woke” and “Unwatchable” Netflix After Stock Shares Crater More than 20% following Company Losses—– LOL get woke

    Dirtbag McConnell’s Leadership PAC Announces It Will Spend $7 million in Ads to Support Nasty RINO Lisa Murkowski—– Dear GP its clear McConnell is a dirt bag

    Kaepernick Pleads For Chance To Play In NFL Again: ‘I Just Need An Opportunity’—– But your so woke…didn’t you take notes from BLM

    US Keeps Sending Military Weapons to Ukraine – But Doesn’t Know What Happens to Them—– Sure they do….its called getting a cut

    Secret Service Officers Fatally Shoot Intruder at Home of Peruvian Ambassador in DC—-Ok….

    Georgia Gang Member Accused of Shooting Cop Six Times Granted Bond—– Well BLM so

    Pennsylvania School Board Rejects After-School Satan Club for Elementary School—– WFT…homeschool

    LEAKED RECORDING: AstraZeneca CEO: Millions of Immunocompromised People Can’t Be Vaccinated… Antibody Treatment Has Enormous Potential —- Of course

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/leaked-recording-astrazeneca-ceo-millions-immunocompromised-people-cant-vaccinated-antibody-treatment-enormous-potential-video/

    Liza Minnelli Was ‘Sabotaged’ at Oscars, ‘Forced’ to Use Wheelchair, Friend Claims—- Hollywood

    Michelle Obama’s brother and his wife sue sons’ school alleging racial bias— Sure big mike sure

    As Biden pledges some student-debt cancellation, young people say their loans delay major life decisions such as buying a house and having kids
    40,000 Student Loans Could Be Immediately Canceled— YOU took out the loan. I paid my debts. But no they need someone else to pay for it. You took the loan. You went to a $ school. You learned crap. Deal with it

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I always enjoy the keaisms you bring!

      I think obummer is trying to get the name back out in the news–by linking it to moochele…he’s looking for accolades again…something’s in the works…

      if the debt is canceled, then the degrees ought to be as well…you default on your mortgage, property gets seized–default on your car loan, you see the repo man…fair is fair.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Rhode Island Dems Submit Bill To Double State Income Tax For Parents Of Unvaccinated Minors

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/rhode-island-dems-submit-bill-double-state-income-tax-parents-unvaccinated-minors/

    Rhode Island Democrats want to punish the parents of children who refused to submit to the COVID vaccine mandates.

    If passed, the bill will financially cripple individuals by doubling their personal income tax and requiring them to pay a monthly fine of $50.

    People say well its against the law…since when have they cared.

    Biden’s DOJ Announces It Will Appeal Monday’s Mask Mandate Ruling IF CDC Decides to Keep Mandate — JUST HOURS After Joe Biden Says “It’s Up to Individuals” to Wear Them

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/bidens-doj-announces-will-appeal-mondays-mask-mandate-ruling-cdc-decides-keep-mandate-just-hours-joe-biden-says-individuals-wear/

    Its about power not the bug

    Liked by 1 person

  19. BBC Cancels Nude Sex Education Theatre Show Targeting Children After Death Threats — Promoted “Pleasure, Queerness and Gender” to Little Children and Showed Them Erections—- WTF

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/bbc-cancels-nude-sex-education-theatre-show-targeting-children-death-threats-promoted-pleasure-queerness-gender-little-children-showed-erections/

    BBC Producers were forced to cancel a “sex ed theatre” production called the “Family Sex Show” featuring “non-sexual nudity.”

    The show explicitly targeted children “as young as five years old” to discuss things like “consent, pleasure, queerness, and gender.”

    The Family Sex Show, featuring topics such as consent, pleasure and queerness, was due to be performed at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory in May. The creators of the show, who said they had also received threats, have now cancelled its whole tour. (this was a tour?!?!??!?!!)

    Critics were not thrilled the actors were taking their clothes off in the children’s show.

    And they show erections to the children — in a children’s show.

    ‘You F*cking Scumbag!’ – Bill O’Reilly Lashes Out at JetBlue Worker After Flight to Turks and Caicos Delayed 5 Five Hours—- Charming

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/fcking-scumbag-bill-oreilly-lashes-jetblue-worker-flight-turks-caicos-delayed-5-five-hours-video/

    Liked by 1 person

      1. LOL yup.

        I have a 10 gallon that’s cycling aka it needs a bacteria to keep fish alive. I put a plant in there and its getting big.

        I set up the 40 gallon and the 20 gallon long tank.

        And now I’m cleaning Or should I say the rain is cleaning the 70 gallon.

        I still have a 10 gallon, 20 gallon and a 29 gallon I need to fix. 😀

        Liked by 1 person

  21. So I’m trying to read some books. I have noticed a shift. First off the quality is zero. Awful just awful.

    Now these are story topics that are popping up more and more.
    So far I’ve had

    Euthanasia
    incest
    Trans
    Lots of LGB stuff
    rape of a child in detail. I mean WTF!!!

    Liked by 2 people

  23. KEA!
    i almost forgot!
    I watched the mac & cheese and peanuts cakes this morning…
    OMG!!!
    I would never have the patience to make all those macaroni –cutting, bending, putting holes in them…no way!!
    she’s awesome!

    Liked by 1 person

  24. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Liked by 2 people

  26. What?????

    Doctor Accused Of Forcing Patients To Overdose On Fentanyl Acquitted On All Charges

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/doctor-accused-forcing-patients-overdose-fentanyl-acquitted-charges/

    William Husel stood accused of administering lethal doses of fentanyl to patients without their informed consent, prematurely ending the lives of 14 patients, and was suspected to have administered lethal doses to as many as 20 others.

    The defense never attempted to argue that Husel ordered the administration of inordinately high doses of fentanyl to patients. Instead, his attorney stated that these men and women were nearing the end of their lives and Husel was providing comfort care.

    Liked by 2 people

  31. Psaki Admits Forced Masking on Planes is About Preserving Power

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/psaki-admits-forced-masking-planes-preserving-power-video/

    “The Department of Justice has indicated that they would appeal, not just because they think it’s entirely reasonable…but because they think for current and future public health crises, uh, we want to preserve that authority for the CDC to have in the future,” Psaki said.

    “Our focus here was seeing what power we had to preserve,” Psaki said.

    So it’s not about science.

    Liked by 2 people

  37. China’s Top Military General Issues Demands to Biden’s Secretary of Defense Austin in First Call

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/chinas-top-military-general-issues-demands-bidens-weak-secretary-defense-austin-first-call/

    The Chinese side has published a readout of the conversation between Austin and Wei, in which Wei asserted that Taiwan is an “inalienable” part of China’s territory and that is a fact that cannot be changed. Wei said if issues with respect to Taiwan are not handled properly, it will undermine the working relationship between the U.S. and China and China will “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

    “China requires the U.S. to stop conducting military provocations at sea,” the Chinese side said. “And not to use the Ukraine issue to smear, frame or threaten China.”

    Liked by 2 people

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