charity begins with pork

To say that I don't get out much is an understatement, as most people know. Yesterday was an occasion that I could not miss with all the old timers and many many others who love the bar in the kudzu gathering to honor and raise money for our friend Rodney and his family. I used to work these kinds of benefits all the time back when my ex was a cooker and still remembered the smell of smoked butts and bologna hanging in the air to entice customers. The cooking is an all night affair on huge rotating grills with boston butts and slabs of bologna smoking for hours on end. Almost 10,000 bucks was raised to help he and his family with medical expenses from cancer treatment. He was one of the daily regulars who got a kick out of the few of us girls who would dare to enter the man's kingdom right after work to knock back some beers. There was always lots of playful innuendo with all of them, but Yaya and I have a special joke about him. "Rodney will." And by golly, yesterday he did! Big hugs and lots of love to all ya'll!! Mom is headed home on Wednesday and ready to rock and roll. She's been confined for about six weeks to bed and chair except for physical therapy so she's ready to get back to her own bed and stuff. And Daddy, of course. I was at the movie rental place today trying to figure out the damn thing when I ran into two old classmates and we chatted about the state of our kids and parents and our collective sanity. Yesterday the "organic girl" as she dubbed herself, came for a visit and we brainstormed some more about getting together a local advisory council to explore ways to help fix this food desert that is D'burg. We have very few grocery stores, none locally owned, and the availability of fresh food is quite limited, especially to those who have transportation problems and limited funds. I still mourn the day in May of last year that my daily one stop pop'n'son grocery got flooded out for the final time. There is nothing within ten miles of the lane now, and that's sad. Demolition of the old grocery and other buildings will begin soon, with a projection of a raised widened business route, curbed and guttered, within ten years. FEMA has refused to pour any more money into the area after two consecutive years of flooding so the next step is to get some work done on the river proper to correct the longtime problem. We shall see.

I didn't have the money to pay the giant mega satellite company that is not DirecTV so we're out of the loop for the moment. I can't say that I really miss it as long as I've got the interwebs which is a mighty good feeling. That's one huge corporate thing off the list of priorities, and when the contract is up it's over. I'd rather make a conscious decision to watch something rather than turning it on to find 200 channels I could care less about. Our entire town has been without cable for several days and they're all up in arms about it! Good thing Daddy has his bill paid up with my nemesis. Never ending recordings of Bonanza and SVU keep him occupied and happy which is of course what we all strive for ;)

It looks like maybe I have cured myself babied my bad knee enough that it's coming back around to walking without a brace and daily naproxen. There is still a devil of a knot in my right shoulder and people at work like to touch it just to see it jump. I know...we are so easily amused. We're due for a huge inspection in the next two weeks so everybody's kind of on edge waiting for the onslaught. Surveys can be a learning experience if you don't get somebody who's out to be a mean ass just because they can. Abuse of power, so to speak. I've seen it a million times. So much of it is subjective according to how standards are met and simple things like wording. With the state of healthcare today and reimbursement increasingly being tied to patient satisfaction, the tide may be turning in favor of the consumer for once. Let's think positive.

The SIX dogs that live here have gone through 20 pounds of food in four days which is beginning to be a little much. Actually, way too much! My first priority after getting mama settled in is to pimp those puppies however and whenever to somebody who promises to care for them. Not just any old body, mind you. Must love dogs.

Over and out from the lane. Ya'll always remember who you are.

^j^