blame

I listened to as much of Trump's rambling briefing on the mid-air collision as I could stand.  He immediate't evely started blaming everybody including Biden and Pete for this happening.  Oh, and DEI too. This man is a lunatic fixated on revenge.  He repeated himself many times about how it takes very special intelligent people to prevent these things.  Yet he and his buddies are cutting funds every which a way.  Are air traffic controllers considered federal civilian employees?  I cannot even keep up with the cast of characters at this point,  Niether can he.

Yesterday afternoon I was sunning like a turtle on the deck and today is monsoon season.  Like, you can't even see to drive.  My biggest fear is getting hit by some idiot with no headlights on in the dark and or rain.  They creep among us.  Speaking of traffic, we have three new businesses going in across from Kroger.  The traffic is already horrendous and I'm wondering how the city fathers will handle the flow to that busy intersection.  Just a thought as Belle would say.

Peace ^j^

wait and see

Being the "listen to all sides" kind of gal that I am, I adopted that attitude when Trump was elected.  I have watched intently to the executive orders issued since day 1 and I must say it is way more than I expected at this point.Not really surprised mine you, just kind of losing faith in this administration day by day.  I did not vote for this yet I have to accept it.  Avoiding the usual means of checks and balances is very dangerous to we the people.  I am particularly concerned about RFK being in charge of all things healthcare.  His cousin Caroline outlined many facts about him including excessive drug use.  Great.  He and Musk can have raves and dream up new ways to torment us.  

The freeze on federal funding came as a surprise even to those who are his supporters.  While he "figures out what's what."  Meanwhile non-profits that take care of the least of these will suffer from delays in continuity of care through community based services.  Musk is already calculating how much the debt will shrink with these cuts.  I am beyond disgusted with this blatant hit at people who cannot help themselves.  There are a few things I agree with.  I do believe that EBT recipients should have a work requirement.  There are way too many folks out there watching 
TV and eating off of our tax dollars.  Plus, EBT is often sold to fund a drug habit.  

LP has been laying like a corpse for almost a week now.  I'm pretty sure it's the flu so let's all hold hans an pray that this old gal doesn't get it.  Mamye staye with us for a few days an it was chaotic but fun.  Except for Lauren being deathly ill! I don't about y'all but I am as ready for spring as I have ever been.  Toay should be close to 60 ( faux spring ) and tomorrow is a total washout.  Two inches of rain.

I so grateful for the kindness that have been shared with me this past year or five.  I try to pay it forward by helping others however I can.  Some days it's as simple as holding the door open or saying thank you to a clerk.  When somebody drops a door in my face I consier it disrespectful.  A doctor did that one time at the hospital an I will never forget the look of self importance as he did it.  

So y'all be careful out there.  There is a local pandemic of flu/covid/rsv/mycoplasma etc.  The rapid tests aren't always accurate depending on what part of the disease you are in.  Tamiflu is probably hard to come by at this point.  I guess you could try ivermectin...lol

Love y'all like chicken.  Keep the faith ^j^

silence is golden

The attic crew finished up about 11 yesterday and all is quiet at the moment except for the whir of the dryer.  I am very impressed at how quickly they worked and their respect for the fact that two of us are living here while they made hella' noise.  They all spoke some English so that helped.  The bonus was me getting to snuggle with an English bulldog pup while the contractor did his business.  Aon't nothing like puppy breath to make a girl's day. There is a whole lot of cleaning to be done but, thankfully, David let us borrow his shop vac for just that purpose.  If you need renovation work done, let me know and I will hook you up with him.  Also, his daughter is starting a cleaning seen blessedrvice and I can put you in touch with her as well.

LP and I are still sharing a phone because hers died, which is a challenge.  We hope to recify that when the money gets right if ever. We have been blessed with financial help from friends and family which has made life not so stressful.  My vision is getting worse worse by the day so I am grateful to have my daughter here to help out. She is very patient with me and we have long talks about family and our history here on the farm; I have a plethora of doctor appointments to make for vision and gut issues and she will be driving Miss Janie for all of that.  The state of Tennesse has a program for the visually impaired and Samantha has visited twice to do assessments and order things that I need. I am whittling down the list of meds that I take because many are not necessary any more.  Added daily Vitamin D and quit Bp med because it runs low now. I have lost 30 pounds since the big fat surgery 5 years ago.  This time five years ago, I was in a nursing home.

If you are anywhere close to Covington TN, please check out Sean Dietrich's show at the Ruffin on February 7th.  Tell him Janie sent ya'!

As always, keep the faith ^j^

gracias

Currently there is a lot of Spanish being spoken with the three who are working in the attic.  They have played  music and sang while they worked and I love it.  I just wish I knew what they're saying!  We should probably be much warmer tonight because of today's activity but it ain't over yet.  Not by a long shot.

Bandit the neighbor dog that really just wanted to eat and run has been adopted, thank you sweet baby jeebus.  The neighbor knew I was feeding him and expecting him so he called yesterday to tell me he's got a home.  I just about cried..  He could have been an outside dawg here but he wouldn't come in out of the cold. We did fatten his cute self, though.  And got lots puppy kisses.  He was probably scared to come in because of Rosie...lol

The hits just keep on coming with people I love.  Sometimes I wonder about that but I feel like it's all in God's hands.  I can be sad and share that sadness with the people that I care for.  No prying, no judgement.  Just a companion in grief.  

Welp, the noise upstairs is brutal so I'm headed to the porch.  Keep the faith kids ^j^

the pretender

Welp, as we all know everybody on the interwebs is not who they claim to be.  I've had several horrible experiences caused by being too naive.  AI makes things that much more challenging.  I mentioned yesterday that I got a comment from someone pretending to be Sean Dietrich.  He is NOT on Facebook except with his business and blogs.  My first red flag was when I saw that this Sean impersonator had only one other friend...big clue.  The guy is followed and read by thousands.  And this dude actually used HIS personal photo to create a facebook page and try to dupe people.  He is blocked as well as the one who "accepted" my friend request that I didn't even send.  I am a seasoned old broad with experiences that include, but are not limited to, a short romance with a Nigerian prince and a whirl with sharks promising to fix my FB page for gift cards.  Lerd.

It is cold as a witch's you know what and getting colder by the minute.  Forecasts are for the snow going south....like WAY south which doesn't bother me at all.  The one we had was pretty but I'm ready for spring now.  The attic here is not insulated and I can actually see up into it when the sun is shining just right.  Insulation is in the planning stage as well as an attic door that I can maneuver.  

I live in a circa 1940is original log cabin that faces north.  All of the chinks are loose and air from that direction blows through the cracks.  Fortunately there is a fireplace in the living room to know that chill off a bit.  We are told that the only fix for that is to put siding outside on that wall.  The front and back logs were left exposed for aesthetic purposes.  Back?  No problem because it faces southwest.  I often sit out there on the screened in porch and watch the sun go down.   

I am trying to watch church online and there are some sort of technical difficulties.  I am such a cynic I blame other tech companies!  What the heck is a bad gateway??  I am not a TikTok person much so I won't miss it but I'll bet there are a lot of folks going through withdrawals right about now.  The sad thing is that so many small business people use that platform and they have lost their way to shine.  Trump was the one who originally proposed this long ago, but now he's changing his tune a bit.  And blaming it all on Biden.  Uncle Joe just said "Let him deal with it."  He is d.o.n.e.  I have a blue wave friend who actually got invited to some sort of inaugural and he went, just for shits and giggles.  ate some good food and took it all in.  And I don't blame him.  It was a rare opportunity to reach across the aisle, so to speak.

The two party system is the American way but not necessarily the best.  One is labeled as liberal and the other as conservative.  But within those two categories there is a wide range of extremism and refusal to meet in the middle.  The necessity of being right all the time without seeing the other point of view is the cause of a lot of political discourse.  I consider myself a conservative Democrat if that is such a thing.  I do not go far left.  My beliefs include anti-death penalty, pro choice, healthcare for all and many more issues that some consider radical.  They are not, by any means.  Healthcare is a human right and in this country it has been turned into a multi billion dollar business.  

Take specialty care, for instance.  Most GPs will see something or you tell them something and they will send you to several different specialists.  Part of this is to cover their asses, which I understand because malpractice premiums are sky high.  However, if you have seen said specialist for several years and are stable, there is no reason for a GP to not monitor the condition.  There is a paper, or portal, trail.

Back when I was working at the local hospital that was one of the things I thought I would never see.....connectivity between healthcare providers.  It took 30 years but by golly we have it now.  If the system ain't down.  Then you're all screwed.  One of the most trying experiences of my work life was being a front line installer during an LIS conversion following a sale.  Seven facilities in West Tennessee were purchased from Methodist Healthcare and to save money, the buyer drafted employees to do coding, etc for all of the facilities.  Each one had their own codes and there were procedure codes to be matched.  It was a nightmare.  When we went live for training at our facility, the installer told us that THEY usually did all the stuff that we did.  Hmmmm.

LP is in Jackson with Babygirl so me and Rosie are trying to stay warm up in here.  Facets are dripping already and will be until Wednesday.  Rosie slept with me last night in her usual spot up against my backside.  Later she crawled under the covers.  I hope that the neighborhood dog Bandit is not left out in the cold during this time.  We would take him in but he refuses to cross the threshold.  There is a crate on the front porch if he chooses to bed down there.  It's all we can do.

Keep those faucets dripping and cabinet doors open ^j^

you are not alone

A friend with the same last name as me has told me that several times and I believe it.  Sooo many folks care about me and my family.  Lauren has convinced me that if you don't seek help when you need it, that's your pride getting in the way.  And we all know that it goeth before a fall.  And I fall a lot these days both literally and figuratively.  

Winter is back but it does not look like it will stay long this time.  Maybe a few nights of dripping water.  I was shocked to get a kinda sorta message from a writer that I admire.  I shared Sean Dietrich's post about his Huntsville appearance in March and tagged my friend who lives there.  And he said I could DM him.  Sean gets hundreds of messages from people who would like their stories to be told.  His wife Jamie is a jewel and together with the blind dog Magnolia, they make a very happy family.  They have adopted Becca Butler as their niece and she has her own challenges which he has written about often.  Their trips and whatnot.  She now has her own page to share her story.  Pretty cool considering that she is blind.   Becca has her own therapy dog (a lab) and apps to help her read.  One of them is called "tell me what I see."  Amazing stuff that I will probably need in the future.

So yeah, readers matter.  A lot!  I have a ton of followers but most don't read unless I post on FB.  I began blogging when my friend Zubrovka and sister-in-law introduced me to the platform.  The first one was named Poop Happens and I actually won a website design from Tamara in Canada.  Another friend offered me free Wordpress that he never used but I'm used to Blogger and that's where my stories are.  All eight million of them.

There were a couple of spinoffs like From the Back Burner ( recipes ) and Pecan Lane Photography ( back when I had a good camera.)  They are still there and I should most definitely concentrate on the food one.  I love sharing recipes like my mother did.  Lauren and I were out of chocolate so we made my cousin's famous Fudge Pie last night and devoured it.  She read the ingredients to me as I measured and mixed.  If that ain't generational, I don't know what is.

Y'all stay warm and keep faith that there is a plan ^j^

 

abalama

No I did not spell it wrong.  It's what I call the state on the way to Gulf Shores and Florida.  Floribama sits right smack on the state line and got blown away in some hurricane or another, but it's still there.  We took LP in there once and I wasn't really ready for the fact that it was a package store and bar.  We scurried on out and had virgin drinks at the state park inn.  That place was awesome but it got blown away too.  So did the pier.  My last beach trip was across the bridge from Ft. Walton.  Very cool setup.  Okaloosa, I believe.  

That was 9 years ago and I so miss the ocean.  The place we stayed had permanent residents that played cards on the second floor above us every day.  I would too, ya' know?  Heather went shopping and I just enjoyed being out there.  The last day before we left, I sat on the patio and just listened to the sound of God in those waves.  There were birds and boats and all sorts of pretty things to look at.  An occasional "eat at mike's" flag flying behind a small plane.  She was almost pregnant with AJ at the time.  Later on the next year Reaves was born.  What a coincidence ;)

I am trying to dwell on the happy memories instead of stressing about what might happen next week.  One thing for sure is that nothing much will be on day one.  Or two.  You cannot executive order your way through Congress no matter who your buddies are.  It really amazes me that nobody is much worried about this scenario.  I don't lose sleep over it but sheeeessshhh.  Rather than say "I told you so" I just pray to survive it all.  I think that is the difference in reality for many of us.  I have several friends who have told me that my posts are stupid because they don't agree with my political beliefs.  I have never said that to anybody.  Not online or in person.  

Ready or not, here it comes on MLK day, no less.  Events will be held indoors because of the weather so there will prolly be a big traffic jam of limos lining up by the rotunda.  The crowd will look much bigger than that bunch on the plaza back in whatever year it was.  That was pitiful!  

If I turn out to be wrong about DJT, I will freely admit it.  If I am better off in 2 or 4 years, I will give his administration their due.  I don't see that happening, being the realist that I am.  Not pessimistic, just realistic.  When billionaires come together to run the country it turns into an oligarchy.  Google that, if you will.  

Freedom of speech will soon be a thing of the past because all the social media people are up Trump's ass.  I try not to rant on this but lawwwd.  Let's give peace a chance ^j^