Baroda Moon

It's All Hallows Eve, & our current events/lifestyle corespondent Nora Sluder phones in from Baroda about celebrating the fall:



Howdy everybody and Happy Halloween. Land O'Goshen! This is my favorite time of year, and pert near one of my favorite holidays so let me get started.

We here in Baroda love Halloween. Sure, we've got the kids to dress up for their parades, apple bobbing, and trick or treating - but Halloween in Baroda is the kick off season for bigger things for the bigger folk too. Halloween spells the beginning of some favorite pastimes here in Bardoda. We've got canning to share, clogging, cellar parties and yodeling to fix ready for.

Halloween is the only time me and the gals get to go to a cellar party. My beau Bobby Clay:

(That's him, thank you Todd)

throws one of the best Halloween cellar parties in Berrien County. Every year he brews me some of the finest peach tipple you've ever tasted, and let me just tell you it's nothing to sneeze at.

Why last year, when we got started yodelling after midnight, my friend Ginney Slattery climbed up on one of the round barns (Baroda is famous for it's round barns) and was yodelling at the moon like a she-wolf in heat. Then she fell off.My Aunt Vy was there and she had just been fitted for her new teeth, and they nearly fell out. Good ol' Ginney got right up, brushed herself off, and got right back to clogging and yodelling.

After Halloween the men folk pretty much keep the cellar parties to themselves for the rest of the winter...

This afternoon I've got to drive over to my Aunt Vy's, and pick up some canning for the festivities tonight. She just got herself a new double wide with a custom kitchen that I can't wait to see. Aunt Vy loves her sponges, and her new kitchen features fifty custom sponge cozies. My Aunt Vy cans some of the most delicious squirrel, rutabaga, and brews a corn cob maple syrup the likes of which you've never tasted. I'm picking up extra this year for Ginney Slattery. She really hits the mash hard, and the food in her belly keeps her on an even keel and her yodel in tune.

Well I've got to get to town, and pick up my new black & orange clogs. Wishing you casual country charm this Halloween - Nora Sluder signing out!

Blink.
Thanks Nora, we look forward to your next post.

ToddSpot Demography

I think it's always important to know where one's readership harks from. Here's a snapshot from the weekend:

1. United States Chicago, Illinois

2. United States Baroda, Michigan

3. United States Seattle, Washington

4. United States Sammamish, Washington

5. United Kingdom Bicester, Oxfordshire









6. United States Baroda, Michigan

7. United States Chicago, Illinois

8. France Paris, Ile-de-France









9. United States Oshkosh, Wisconsin

10. Australia








11. United States Baroda, Michigan

12. United States Saint Louis, Missouri

13. Israel










14. Israel

15. United States Allendale, Michigan

16. United States Old Bethpage, New York

17. United States Plano, Texas

18. United States Arroyo Grande, California

19. Pakistan










20. United States Grand Rapids, Michigan

21. United States New York

22. Canada Don Mills, Ontario

23. United States Baroda, Michigan

24. United States Cranbury, New Jersey

25. Brazil Sao Paulo, São Paulo










And did they stay? I must say I'm impressed with Pakistan's 128:58 minutes and 27 page views. Followed of course by Baroda.

Poor Little Ortolan

Our current events/lifestyle corespondent Nora Sluder phones in from Baroda about the perils of a French delicacy.




Well how do you do everyone? Say, just as squirrel season is around the corner here in Baroda, I sit down to my coffee and paper this morning and read about a poor little bird called the Ortolan.

This French treat is a tiny songbird that you eat bones and all. Now I don't know about you, but eating a bird bones and all sounds pert-near crazy to me. Now it seems those French banned the hunting of this little creature in 1998, but it hasn't stopped the poachers.

Why it's even said that days before he died, that French President Mitterrand dined on the little birds at his famous "last supper." I quote:

Thought to represent the soul of France, ortolan was on the menu at late French President Francois Mitterrand's legendary "last supper" on New Year's Eve, 1995. Though cancer had diminished his appetite, Mitterrand saved room for the piece de resistance, the roasted ortolan, downing the two-ounce bird, bones and all. He died eight days later.

Well hell yes! That's what you get for eating bird whole! If I were there, I would have said, "Listen Frank, you don't know what you've tasted until you've tried my Aunt Vy's squirrel casserole. Just hop on one of your fancy jets and fly over to Baroda for some good eats. I know it will keep you alive longer than some damn little bird!"


And get this - you're supposed to eat the tiny fowl with your head under a napkin!



Those French are crazy.

Wishing you causual country charm - Nora Sluder signing out!

Britney Spears Y'all - via Baroda

Since our visitor traffic has increased twofold from Baroda, we thought it would be relevant to bring in a roving reporter from the town itself. Nora Sluder will be joining us as ToddSpot's current events/lifestyle corespondent.


Nora is librarian in Berrien County, who resides in the village of Baroda. She enjoys knitting, snowmobiling, fishing, and of course - books. As a career libraian, Nora prides herself on being the "in-the-know" person to consult on current events. Nora's reports shall remain unedited with the exception of spell-check. (At her insistence.)

Nora's plans on phoning in her reports, although since she has a party line her communiqués may run a day or two late. (ToddSpot is looking into putting her on the Verizon family plan in order for her to phone via cell.)

Without further fuss, here's Nora:

Hi Y'all! I say y'all cause that's what Britney Spears says, and since I am reporting today about Brit that is why I say it. Anyway, so I thought I'd phone in my first report about Brit and those MTV awards.

I like Britney. She's just like that Paris Hilton who I like too because when I drove over to my aunt Vi's house in Niles (you just take Shawnee Road to 31 and you're there before you know it) last year to have my colors done she said I was a summer just like Brit and Paris.

Anyway, I drove over to Aunt Vi's (cause she has satellite) in Niles for broasted chicken dinner and Dairy Queen Sunday night. So we watched those MTV awards.


I think Brit was good! I don't know what all the fuss is about, she looked real pretty with those fancy hair extensions. Maybe she should have put more clothes on, but anyway, I just don't get all the fuss. See, we do a lot of clogging around here in Baroda and I just know Brit is an excellent clogger too. You can just tell these things and that girl can dance.

Brit's famous and she's rich. So people should lay off her, and anyways, like I said she can clog and most folks couldn't come pert-near(sic) to doing what she does. So I say stop talking smack (my new word for today) about her in the spirit of sisterhood. (Vagina and all Dr. Phil!)

Wishing you causual country charm - Nora Sluder signing out!

Thanks Nora, we look forward to further reports from Baroda. CLICK HERE [MTV] FOR VIDEO

ToddSpot: Chicago - Paris - Berlin - Baroda

I planned on publishing the responses I received from friends/fam/& therapist concerning the sociopath comment last week, but I got sidetracked researching the fascinating community of Baroda MI; from whence the comment originated. The statistics leave one's mind in a whirl:

Population (year 2000): 858. Estimated population in July 2007: 878 (+2.3% change)

Males: 426 (49.7%)
Females: 432 (50.3%)

Berrien County

Median resident age: 36.2 years
Michigan median age: 35.5 years

Zip codes: 49101.

Estimated median household income in 2005: $37,100 (it was $36,250 in 2000)

Baroda $37,100
Michigan: $46,039

Estimated median house/condo value in 2005: $126,700 (it was $94,200 in 2000)
Baroda $126,700
Michigan: $149,300

ToddSpot is going to keep an eye on Baroda. What with that dicey male to female ratio and sexy housing market, we would expect Baroda to eclipse Dubai as the next "it" tourist destination spot!

Baroda MI, America's Back Door