just another day in paradise

Since it's so freakin' hot and humid outside I've been entertaining myself by putting names on a list of people who might be willing to volunteer be paid minimum wage for their hours at a rural health clinic. Overtime costs big bucks so we would need some dependable souls to carry the torch. Of course we might also accept donations from the various apportionments of all those congregations who tend to favor local missionary work. There is plenty enough to keep us busy at home without going out to meddle in someone else's business and all their jihad ways. Stock up on viennies because the end is surely near! Don't forget the bottled water either.

Still packing and consolidating here on the lane. BG is back at the hotel with her perky voice booking baseball tournaments all the while saving the world, one life at a time. One of my most vivid memories of picking her up after work was when she was at the middle school up on College Hill. Traffic would be backed up to the Methodist Church with busy parents picking up their kids. This one particular afternoon I was stalled down at the bottom by what the used to be the wading pool, when I noticed some very mean children kicking at a drunk guy as he staggered up the sidewalk toward their school. They all snickered and had a good laugh at how they were so much cooler than him. His cold body was found in an abandoned building that used to be something big and important. Greenberg's maybe?

I think the cool(er) spell is over and I seriously hate that. Nothing makes my heart sing like walking the yard without breaking a sweat. Smears my makeup and all that, ya know? The field corn is way past picking so there you go....just another day in paradise. I do have leftovers from last night so I surely won't starve. I did my recycle duty and delivered four bags of cans to the place by the pond and got ten bucks and some change for my next purchase. Nobody can say that old Poops doesn't do her part to save Mother Earth.

I'm just saying ^j^

double rainbow

When I see a sight like that headed to the sawmill early on a Monday morning it can only mean one thing....Big Ernie listens when it matters. We brainstormed at Gigi's pool yesterday about who could play what role in the formation of a local rural health clinic. These types of places are not funded very well, so they depend on volunteers to keep the whole thing going. I would assume that corporate big bucks would embrace such a plan since it cuts their bad debt by 3/4 and gives families an opportunity to heal themselves. I know...I'm such a glass half -full person. Poopie Pollyanna is my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

A multidisciplinary approach to healthcare delivery involves much more than diagnosis and treatment which is where I've made a living for over thirty years. Well, kinda sorta. Most of the big money goes to nursing because they're all in demand and stuff. More beds = more nurses. I snuck in to visit my dying cousin in the intensive care unit today. Her husband sat at her side, a retired CRNA, computing her score on the liver transplant list. She was a nurse back in the day too, down in the big city dialysis unit, That was way before universal precautions was second nature to us. I kid you not....I once watched my lab supervisor perform an autopsy with a cig hanging out of his mouth while he sawed. That one never made CSI.

Sawmill? Always some sort of fire to put out. Too many women up in that place to even think straight. Have I ever mentioned how I seriously hate drama? Yep...I thought so. We always seem to roll with it though. A big shoutout to whoever is in charge up in there because I get to sit down now and then. And, as Martha would say:" That's a good thing."

little moments

Gigi knows that I'm not one of those lay around and soak up rays kinda girl when it's July in West TN. We've worked our way from late April 'til now with she and her pool friends helping every day that they show up to experience the feeling of floating in cool water. Her man has this grandchild, who shall remain nameless, that taught herself to swim today in that pool today. She's a survivor, no doubt. Calls me grandma for some odd reason. NatBug started that one....I guess I looked like one to her, ya know?

Homeland security issues are heavy on my mind today. My parents are both elderly with multiple disease states wearing on their earthly bodies and that sucks without someone in-house to monitor assist with their ADLs. They seem afraid to pay for that lest they need some longterm care in the future. If it were me, I'd say to hell with it and stay at home, no matter what the cost. But then what do I know. I'm just an overaged hippie who believes that access to not-for-profit healthcare could be a reality if enough people pitched in. Sort of like the Canadian model where money won't buy you the latest technology like fancy radiology shots and non-emergent invasive procedures. If there is anyone to blame for the failure of healthcare in the US, it is lawyers who make a good living off of suing healthcare providers. Shit happens and people die. Most of them need an advocate of some sort to guide them through the maze that is our system of delivery. There's not much compassion involved when it's about the buck.

Left my camera at home today, intent on enjoying the babies at the pool with their respective lifeguards on hand. Two Scoops learned the hard way to jump OUT from the board rather than to the side where the other kids are. Once he tried it, he did a hundred times and busted his belly with every single jump. That, my friends, is a real leap of faith.

Gotta go cut the grass mow the yard while I've got a John Deer rider parked in the yard. Every two weeks has been sufficient this summer and I like that. Nothing a smartassed country girl can't handle with a pusher and weed whacker at her disposal during a drought.

^j^

another million dollar rain

Evidently Big Ernie feels kinda sorry for us here on the farm because of that big bad flood episode and he has chosen to bless us with nice steady rains at the most opportune moments to revive thirsty crops and put some sort of promise toward this year's harvest. We had one two weeks ago and we are currently watching the second one of this day play out. Lily is perched on my desk, peering out into the drips, hoping to catch a glimpse of her nemesis "that bird. " I have this seriously cute chair next to the desk and usually she curls up there against the pillows and keeps me company. When she's not out prowling, that is.

The sawmill has been busy as a one-armed paper hanger this week. It happens every time after a holiday weekend!! I'm being very responsible *ahem* by actually paying bills when I get paid, as far as the money goes which ain't far when the electric bill is over three hundred. Today's nice person was the lady at the office who let me split it in half and pay the rest NEXT time I get paid. The dentist and hand surgeon are wanting their piece of me even though both of them, whom I used to call friends, live a much more lavish lifestyle and could extend professional courtesy to the point of taking assignment. To be fair, they probably don't know I'm in a "situation" due to BG's recent lapse in employment. Hey....she was paying half the rent and that hurt! Things are back to somewhat normal now, for us, which is robbing Peter to pay Paul but somehow finding the money to do it. Many people have it much much worse, but it is disappointing to say the least that we both earned bachelor's degrees and still have to struggle to make ends meet. That is the NEW face of America, I believe. Either you are living in poverty with government assistance or so rich it doesn't matter....and the rest of us foot all the bills. Enough said.

I'm watching as Ron Paul sneaks his way into the next presidential race, a bit quicker and more determined that he was last time around. Time will tell. Unless Obama pulls a big fat rabbit out of his hat, his days are already numbered. Sure, the oil spill wasn't his fault. But the federal response to this disaster, particularly in terms of unbiased media coverage, has been a travesty. I heard one coastal Louisiana fisherman lament that the bayou where he used to fish is eerily quiet now due to the loss of wildlife. The dead zone, so to speak. You'd think they would have learned something about public opinion from Katrina.

There are so many things going wrong that it is sometimes really really difficult to see the silver lining if one doesn't stretch the envelope and reach for faith. But I refuse to turn into one of those old curmudgeonly types who gripes about how the world's going to hell in a handbasket. There are too many little moments that make it all worthwhile. On the entertainment center behind me, as I type, there is a picture of my then three month old nephew meeting his grandaddy for the first time, his own father's arms encircling him. In this particular shot, he's a dead ringer for me when I was that age. The caption on the bottom of the frame says it all:

"Faith makes things possible, not easy."

dog days

They are officially here on Pecan Lane. My babies won't even go out until after six, and then only to potty. The heat kicks their butts, just like it does mine. I "saw fall" yesterday in spite of the ninety plus temps in the form of a change in shadows due to the longest day being over. I inherited the gift from mama, one that has kept me sane through many a hot'n'humid summer in the south. First sighting is almost always the week of the 4th or soon after, accompanied by the song of katydids.

Thanks to my friend Idgie at The Dew, I know that kudzu does indeed bloom and I have seen it. It's about that time again so I'll be scanning the underside of that big hanging blob of it by the dairy barn for purple flowers. I spent yesterday afternoon floating in the cool water at Gigi's pool. That fountain thingy really works! Today it's laundry time here at Casa Poops. Maybe a little watering if it doesn't rain. Other than that? Life as usual.

^j^

nonchalant

I rarely hear from my fairy blogmother like back in the day when we were both writing our fool hearts out about life and angst and raising children. Her writing inspired me to keep on with my own, and I will never forget that. She shared her raw feelings of fear and disappointment with a circle of folks who felt her pain and shared her joys in that totally acceptable sort of way that blogging offers for writers. She commented on a post that I seemed not too shaken about my possible departure from the farm. Truth be known, my heart is breaking with every single heirloom that I touch. I watch the generations who have been here for years and years and wonder to myself if some rich mofo will ever come up in here and develop it into a subdivision. Lord have mercy, I hope not. I don't own it, but I doubt seriously the owners would go that route because they've already got more money than Big Ernie. Still, it is sad watching my parents try to take care of themselves with their respective "challenges" trying to retain dignity and grace. I don't offer suggestions anymore on anything but healthcare. It's their decision about where to stay.

Our mayor's family got together for a reunion this weekend at the homeplace down on Samaria Bend and I stopped by to visit for a few minutes under the cool of their shade tree. We were still talking about the big flood and how Clara drove us through the water in the drifting work truck while two high strung women as co-pilots told her how to do it. BG said I was speakin' in tongues that day. That will be one to tell the grandchildren :)

As usual, the sawmill was a freakin' zoo with all the doctor's offices and clinics closed for the "holiday". Which was observed TODAY because that's the way the US rolls. Whatever. It was payback for my three day on Memorial Day weekend. My friend, the future soldier, says that I'm a glass half full kind of girl. I guess it takes one to know one.

I suppose that I've been in denial for a long time about our future here...praying faithfully that it will work out for the best. I can't say that I miss the cows one little bit, and the scenery has improved a lot. Every time a barn goes down in rubble, I know that we have the history recorded and that nobody can take those memories away. We are family.

^j^

chuck's ashes

It is biblical I suppose, the dust to dust thing. Whenever I think of that passage, I am reminded of Kansas and their famous tune about the wind. Earthly bodies are a birthday wrapped present from Big Ernie and those of us who appreciate the gift are blessed beyond all imagination. I first began to talk with Chuck up in the kudzu when his mother was dying of cancer and he was terribly upset about the whole thing. I would be too, ya know? He worked as a tool and die man for most of his life and had one wife who stood by his side the entire way. He will be remembered fondly by many people. I hope that I can say the same when my time comes to be separated amongst the sheep and goats.

Sometimes I whine here, but mostly I do a running dialogue about my day to day life. Now and then someone cares enough to stay in touch. That means the world to an old girl who is tired as hell and ready to give up at times. Let's pray that I find true love before that happens. It would be a shame for me to go to the grave without ever knowing what it feels like to be "the one" to somebody besides my babygirl. I figure he's out there somewhere because that's the way karma rolls.

I've been cleaning and packing because my time here seems to be up. This house, built in 1918, is poorly insulated and high dollar maintenance. My current bill from Dyersburg Electric System is three hundred plus just for staying cool. No pool pump or water. Nothing but air and the washer and dryer plus a few light bulbs and a fan or two. Oh yeah...and that upper back neck massager thing. I wish I had known about that before I signed up for carpal tunnel surgery and a bridge while enrolled with basic insurance. My bad.

Bubba and I went down to the river the other evening to check out the levee repair and I was impressed with the progress since the big flood busted it out and the dozier guy went into the woods to haul dirt and sand out and began building it back. I was totally amazed, to say the least, but then I'm easily amused. Country girls can be like that on occasion.