come thou long-awaited green house

ok, so...the long-awaited greenhouse is nearly done.....i say nearly, because now that i am working in it, i see the need to make improvements originally down-played by the builders....like an exhaust window with a temperature-gauged hinge.....yes, one can open up the doors when the temperature gets too high inside.....but i cannot do this from work.....i can see myself driving home at lunch on unseasonably warm days to open those doors....driving to and from work to check on a greenhouse is hardly sustainable food production....aside from the temperature issue...there is the lack of any opening big enough for an extension cord.....in the event we are sub-zero for a few days i might want to warm things up a tad.......heavy sigh....i am perusing the seed catalogs for varieties that winter-over well in hopes they will do as well in the greenhouse.....i have found an unused packet of rouge d'hiver lettuce that looks to be winterhardy...will plant these the next time i am home during daylight.....

cultural differences

ok, so it has been months since my last blog....but as this space is resrved for the preservation of my (more important) thoughts and circumstances as i age, i feel the need to put down the events of the past few days. For starters, my eldest's girlfriend has flown back to Florida to spend the holidays with her family. He plans to drive there sometime next week to meet her family and to vacation in a warm climate. The drive will take him within the geographical vicinity of the birth mother to the youngest of our children. Naturally, the opportunity to accompany the eldest was put to the youngest, and that is where the chaos began. The birth mother has hounded the youngest for 'details' of the visit. Seems there are numerous complications to a potential visit: the birth mother's spouse works three jobs, they have taken in a border with a baby who must keep her job as a condition of probation, the restraining orders against close neighbors.....you get the picture. The travel dates have been shared, but even the dates has not been enough to quell the constant stream of texts asking for more information. Should Junior take off on the expected date of arrival? Should they find a sitter for the baby? It occured to me last night, when I lay sleepless after another unfortunate interchange with the child in question about the known trip details as i knew them: there is a cultural disconnect at play here. in our family context, we get up 'early' on a travel day and drive....with stops for food and comfort when needed, armed with printed travel directions that include expected mileage and timing. when this couple have (has?) visited us, they left whenever the spouse got off work, even if it was late at night, and drove through the night....even if it meant arriving while we were still asleep.......they have been known to sleep in their car in front of our house and wait until they saw lights come on. when they were told the arrival date, they appear to have figured that this child could arrive any time after midnight on that date, rather than 14 hours after a reasonable morning starting time.....the child in question, despite her increasing agitation over the 'lack of details' has yet to google the particulars on her own...she has both addresses, and could find out for herself just how long of a trip she has in front of her.....and could possibly come to the realization that there are many factors that will confound an estimated time of arrival- sheer distance, wrecks,construction, disorientation......as for me, i will continue to pray that the eldest and the youngest can complete a journey of that length without un-mediated theatrics.....and that the visit itself will be void of drama and danger....amen, amen and amen

the way

ok, so....we went back to lexington this evening to see the way.....i called ahead to make certain that the projector was working and that we would not have to see the other film playing at the kentucky by default....like last sunday when we saw the ides of march because the projector for the way was broken.....ah well.....all this after an afternoon at the wildlife refuge and a substantial hike.....for the record..the way is about the pilgrimage to santiago de compestello....800 km of walking across southern france and northern spain to see the site fo the burial of st. james.....i envision myself on such an extended hike....and said as much to my treasured spouse on the way home.....whereupon he expressed concern that AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT i could not possibly entertain such a journey....he went so far as to express surprise that i managed to hike the refuge trails AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT......he went on to express concern that i lack the fitness required for my upcoming trip to paris......for the record, i weigh almost to the pound what i weighed on my last 2 trips to paris and my last trip to london...and somehow managed to drag myself to the sights AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT.....for the record i walk 4 lunches a week on a church-sponsored indoor walking track....as well as several extra 30 minutes in the evening on the treadmill...seems i need to be doing more..step it up a bit.......like the time slots when i am playing scrabble.....seems seeing me at the computer rather than on the treadmill this morning is what set off this day's diatribe.....heavy sigh.....no clue how i will manage to drag myself up to bed AT MY CURRENT WEIGHT

grey, short-sleeved t-shirt

ok, so in my dreams i was wearing a grey short-sleeved t-shirt....with writing on it.....possibly writing above and below a crest of some sort....i was with my daughter's birth mother....at a county fair style aisle of rides and games and greasy food stalls....the scenario grows less likely as the descriptives pile on....i do not wear grey short-sleeved t-shirts, nor would i go to a county fair midway with or without the birth mother....i can recall announcing that i needed to change into a longsleeve shirt, because the grey shirt was dirty and because the sun was going down....and all the sudden i was riding in a car with my spouse....no sign fo the birth mother or the carnival rides...wearing jeans and a longsleeve t-shirt from DBF......go figure...

rocks and boxwoods.....

ok, so....i have spent the past few weeks systematically digging out and transplanting 20+ year boxwoods ahead of the construction timeline for the greenhouse....without the row of boxwoods there is space for a 7 foot by 10 foot grrenhouse below the deck that will catch maximum winter and early spring sun and be reasonably shaded during the hotter months.....the entrance will be under the back deck....and will require a detour from the brick walk that connects the cabin-side yard with the garage-side yard...the detour necessitated the removal of decades of vine-growth that covered the rocks that i removed from the paths when i laid bricks.....and so i spent this weekend ripping out vines, moving rocks to two separate terracing projects, and laying the rocks into their new locations...for the record, moving rocks, even by wheelbarrow, uphill, is hard work....and just when i thought i was done with moving rocks, i noticed that there are more rocks by the cabin displaced when the workman poured real steps at the cabin door.....i say 'the cabin' though i really mean 'miss lulu's'...because that is what we have always called the cabin once owned by miss lulu bates.....no clue where i will move those rocks.....hopefully a good nights rest will inspire me...

a soggy tale of woe....

ok, so...at the last minute this morning, as i was rushing about trying to select the appropriate outfit for making soup and sandwiches for the shut-ins with my church family, i decided that my shirt really needed to be ironed....and when i stepped onto the basement floor....the rug squished.....squish is never the sound one wants to hear...water was flowing out of the water heater....and i immediately reached for the yellow turn-off valve....we have been-there-done-that with the water heater before.....the plumber has been and gone and we have a brand-new water heater.....my children and their signifcant others are downstairs working the towels/shop vac/fans to dry out the carpet in the only downstairs bedroom.....thankfully the water never touched the numerous books.....i am also thankful that this leak happened while we were home rather than away....as the water damage could have been significant

sadness....

ok, so....i was met at the door when i stopped by the methodist church last evening after work to pick up my mom from her regular phone-answering slot.....they had told her several weeks ago that they were putting her on the 'sub' list and that they had found someone else more reliable to answer the phone in that time slot....my mother had missed the week my brother came, and the next week because we forgot to take her....and the church used this opportunity to ease her out of answering the phone....'you know that your mother is going downhill, don't you....?'......that is not exactly how they said it but that is the gist of it....it was like being told that your child was no longer welcome to come over and play after some minor infraction.....the afternoon at the phones was one of the few outings my mother had, and i am saddened that the church could not figure out a way to make it work despite her memory issues.

no news is good news....

ok, so...the local paper covered the board meeting and printed the summary a week ago. The piece was inaccurate in many ways....including a ridiculous statement that made it sound as if the ehalth department had no obligation to notify the community in emergency situations. The article also incuded a noye about the board vopting to give me a 5% raise. yikes! i have worried for the past week that there would be outrage about both the inaccurate notification statement, as well as about voting a raise in tough economic times. Happily, this week's paper had no letters about either of my issues....and i am very pleased to have dodged this bullet.....

the dream with my dad as a young man...

ok, so....i am still thinking about a dream i had several nights ago...in the dream i am in my grandmother's farmhouse in rural ohio....the house had 2 screened-in porches...the one off the barnyard was the one used both to enter the house as well as for leisurely sitting.....the house was single story on the left -side....where the kitchen and dining room/laundry room/pantry were located....and two-storied on the right side....with a large living area, bedroom, the second screened-in porch downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. There was an attic off the stairs that was essentially on top of the kitchen and dining room. In my dream, my gtrandmother was dressed like Jackie Kennedy, in a lavender linen sheath with large covered button accents, and her hair was bobbed...sadly...no pillbox hat....for the record, my grandmother never wore a dress like...she was a shirtdress kind of woman....but i digress.....so in the dream i am with my brother in the larger of the two upstairs bedrooms....there were far more beds in the room in my dream than there were in my childhood....and my dad is standing at the top of the stairs....a youthful version of my dad.....and i ask him why my grandparents had never converted the attic into another bedroom....and he answered...'you would have to ask me that!'.....this was a typical reponse to a question to which he did not know the answer....the dream went on....but this scene is one that i have pondered many times since waking up.....

recovery

ok, so....the race for the arts was last sunday evening....this event is an all-hands-on-deck situation for the c-dubs and their extended circle.....i help with the registration table, and then cut the bananas to be offered alongside the grapes that i have previously washed and sectioned. I also share water duties with the altertnative water site at the finish line....this year's race was marred by injury.....not of the racers, but of my spouse.....he cycles the course to make sure that traffic is stopped at intersections.....some where near the corner of st mildred's court and main his left hand managed to compress the brake enough that he was hurled over the handlebars and onto the street.....runners veered off-course to assist....seems he did not get up immediately.....the ems was called to help a 40-year old who wrecked his bike on the course....but by the time they came he had gotten back on his bike to finish the taks at hand...his doctor checked him out after the award ceremony....he advised him to avoid the temptation to go to the ER, as the cost to diagnose bruised/cracked ribs will not be worth the expense given that there is not much that can be done about them... .fast-forward to saturday.....he still cannot get out of bed without help....the torn abdominal muscles still spasm on occassion....his bruised ribs are still tender.....his scrapes are still red and mean-looking..he finally sought 'official' medical attention on thursday....mostly over concern for the spasms....and the shortness of breath....yikes! let us hope that he has turned a corner and is on the road to recovery...

free at last?

ok, so.....i unsubscribed today from the voluminous FB updates posted from our daughter's birth mother.....the threshold that triggered this action was two-fold....first.....she reached the age of 18 (consent) and she is now free to make as much or as little contact with her birth mother as she chooses......secondly, the woman has been updating her status at 30 minute increments of late....while my child was underage I felt responsible for monitoring the birth mother's mental status....the better to cushion the blow for whatever negative interactions she had with our child....but now.....i am allowing myself to detach myself from the ongoing drama....and allowing our child to deal with these tempests on her own terms.....

remorse...

ok, so....in especially lousy day at work followed by a fitful sleep....i disclosed what i failed to see was a confidence....and all-hell has broken loose....between me and the person who told me, but not between me and the person from whom the secret was being held.....go figure...

wasted day

ok, so.....i was up all night and gave in to temptation to call in sick, given that even the smell of brewing coffee added to my nausea...when i cannot sit in the computer chair to play my word games then it really is time to go back to bed. I finally dragged myself downstairs the second time around 10:30 am and decided that it was best to go right back up and strip the bed, gather anything i had worn or touch and run a load of laundry as a public health precaution....since nobody else seemed to be sick, then this illness was more likely to be a virus rather than food poisoning....ah well....i lazed about watching netflix on the ipad while playing word games on my iphone.....progressing from strawberry frozen fruit bars to potato soup to pasta by the end of the day....mostly it was a day wasted.....i could not imagine dragging myself out to the garden, nor sitting up to sort through closets or drawers....i suppose that is the purpose of a true 'sick' day...to be so sick that not only should one not attempt the trip to work, but one cannot do housework while off at home....

lamaze breathing

ok, so.....sometime around 9:00 am, just after the plumber's insurance adjuster left after seeing the damage done in the second internal water disaster last wednesday....i decided that i would take time to move my select belongings from the downstairs makeshift office back into my repainted and refloored upstairs office. Most of my files and delicates (baskets, prints, diplomas) were in boxes in the conference room, but the files I thought I might need in the interim were with me in the near-broom closet i have called home for several weeks....and so i grabbed the dolly (?dollie)dragged it into the elevator...and pressed 1....and the elevator went down, but the door did not open.....and so i pressed 1 again.....and then pressed door open, and then started beating on the door until i noticed a call button....which buzzed loudly....i buzzed for a bit before i noticed the emergency call phone hidden behind the emergency call phone panel.....and i pressed the button clearly labeled in red....press for help......and a human voice answered.....and i told her that i was trapped in the elevator at the MCHD.....and she asked my name.....and after i spelled it out, she responded with....someone will be there shortly jackie.....and so the regrets started welling up....regret that i am not one of those people who carries one's cell phone around 24/7.....regret that i had not told anyone in the building that i was going to be using the elevator.....regret that i had not used the restroom first.....or gotten a drink of water......or thought to bring along a chair rather than a dolly (dollie)....with the recovery/restoration projects since the original water disaster on may 1, the floor of the elevator has become quite soiled.......at no point in my captivity did the notion of actually sitting down sound like a reasonable plan......so....help was on the way.......yet i was still confined and getting a tad warm...i took off my linen 'big' shirt and arranged it on the dolly (dollie)....a hymn came into my brain.......standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living word of god I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.......it is not even a hymn from the past sunday....so i can credit only Divine providence for sending this song into my brain.....of course, this was not the verse that i tried to sing...this happens to be the second verse.....and the act of trying to sing the song triggered a cathartic cry...not sobbing, not simple tears trickling down the cheeks.....just an outward sign that i was having an inward crisis at almost 9 weeks after the may 1 disaster...but even that explanation lacks the full amplitude of my angst.....i have as many or more issues at home that await resolution........and none that can be reolved while awaiting rescue.....so i reverted back to the last time i prepared physically for tense and trying times....lamaze class 27 years ago.....and it was lamaze breathing for the remainign minutes of my entrapment that allowed me to step out of the (braced) elevator door into freedom with my head held high and my tears nearly dried and forgotten.......

missing my dad.....

ok, so yesterday at the red lobster, where my mom and i ate after picking up the remainder of our 30-year anniversary replacement china......i attempted to direct the conversation to dad......who liked red lobster almost as much as mom.....we were ordering, and i pointed out that dad would have ordered the clam strips.....she nodded....and then went back to perusing the menu......for no real reason because she always orders the fried shrimp and crab leg combination with a baked potato....she eats the crab legs and takes the shrimp and potato home for supper....this scenario worked out well yesterday, as we were going to our daughter's boyfriend's belated graduation party that involved a bbq supper at the battlefield....on the way back home my spouse asked if the boyfriend's father was involved at all....no, i replied, because he died some time ago after some peiod of estrangement.....i started to say that the boyfriend had that in common with our daughter....but then that is not true......our daughter has had my spouse as her very-involved father most of her life.....her birth-father was estranged, but he is now working on semi-regular contact.....she has no concept of father's day without a father.....ah well......there is a picture of my mom and dad above the computer table...the one taken at their 47th anniversary party....we celebrated the 47th rather than waiting on the 50th when it became clear that my father would be far from lucid if we postponed......he seems happy and content in this photo.....in the moment rather than agonizing over the past or the future....seems this gentle man still has a few things to teach me about how to live one's life.....

ok, so.....

ok, so.....the nurse from Doctor H.'s office called not long after lunch with these opening words....'I am here with your mother, and she seems confused on her medications'.......i immediately bring up the calendar on my pc......no appt with doctor...then grab my phone and search for that calendar....yikes.....doctor at 3....but it is only 1:30 pm and curiously no mention of it is on the calendar synced with my phone.....but i digress.....i reviewed my mother's medicines with the nurse, who expressed concern that my mother said she took no medications.....he asked about problems...and i mentioned her laying about on her bed watching tv while complaining that her back hurt......her doctor called after another 30 minutes, and told me that she felt that my mother had no business driving, and that she had told her so in her examination....she suspected that my mother would not tell me about her recommendation....just as she had not told me of her appt......she suggested that i hide her keys if i felt uncomfortable with confrontation.....yikes.....my spouse is out of town til late tomorrow....so he and I agreed that we can defer the keys discussion until Thursday at supper, when he can support my request for her keys..........my mother did acknowledge that she went to the doctor today....but she left out the part about the car...go figure.....i feel quite conflicted....as I knew that she should not drive but did not confront her at supper tonight....and she plans to drive to church supper tomorrow....I pray that she travels safely until I have ht enerve to take her keys.....

In honor of Rachel and Joe's wedding...the Collins piece read at our wedding 30 years ago....Judy not Billy...when I hear it read/sung I hear Dan Fogelberg....

What I'll give you since you asked
Is all my time together;
Take the rugged sunny days,
The warm and rocky weather,
Take the roads that I have walked along,
Looking for tomorrow's time,
Peace of mind.

As my life spills into yours,
Changing with the hours
Filling up the world with time,
Turning time to flowers,
I can show you all the songs
That I never sang to one man before.

We have seen a million stone lying by the water,
You have climbed the hills with me
To the mountain shelter.
Taken off the days, one by one,
All lyrics www.allthelyrics.com
Setting them to breathe in the sun.

Take the lilies and the lace
From the days of childhood,
All the willow winding paths
Leading up and outward.
This is what I give
This is what I ask you for;
Nothing more

closure, of a kind.....

ok, so....i am torn between feeling as though my task is over...my quest has been fulfilled, and my promise has been kept.....and as if this hesitation along the trail is just that...another milestone in the path that is parenthood.....in the end the folks who were essential were there to cheer us to the finish line.....and for that i am grateful.....i can only hope that they wil be with us for the trials that are to come....

post traumatic stress.....

ok, so...not only have i failed to blog these many weeks, i have failed to blog about momentous occasions....and for that i am sorry....the point of this blog is and always has been a venue for memory-keeping.....and the events of these past few weeks are certainly memorable.....i have failed to blog about the after-effects of 27,000+ gallons of water spritzing out of the broken water heater valve sometime between close of business on April 29 and 3:00 am on May 1 when the fire alarm was triggered and the fire department broke down the door of the health department.....the disaster was nearly a month ago, and despite overtime and actual meritorious bonus payments for dealing with the aftermath....the reconstruction is far from over and the day-to-day reality is a numbing fog of smoothing over hurt feelings and validating the extra work that many have suffered through to bring this expected insurance coverage about......and all with the clear knowledge that congress could cut off all our funding an make the effort a mute point.... ah well.....somehow it will all work out......i did the right thing by passing on my bonus for tuition due this summer....but i did indulge myself in a matching travel ensemble from vera bradley.....all i need now is a trip (to paris?) to show off my suite,......

sorry about your luck....

ok, so i reserved the use of our truck this morning so i could get a load of mulch....and opted do some scant grocery shopping on my way to get said load of mulch....alas, i had far more in my cart than tthe express line could overlook....and was forced to wait on several folks with huge orders.....the lady in back of me was spouting tag lines to random shoppers.....'sorry about your luck'.....'it must be april fool's day'.......'i have picture ID' .......very surreal....

circles of hell

ok, so i spent my afternoon off in the circle of hell reserved for adult children of aging parents....the space in which one cannot gain access despite a filed POA, the one where the key fits the lockbox at the bank, but the documents required are not there, the one where my mother can show me the drawer where these documents 'used to be' but not where she may have 'hidden' them....until this afternoon i was completely unaware that having a certificate of deposit involved an actual certificate that banks are loathe to replace because of the extra work involved.....heavy sigh.....looking for the silver lining in this otherwise dismal day....

what if god was one of us....

ok, so...i encountered God this morning.....after i got out of my car in front of the comp care building and before i walked into the Rotary meeting.....i had stopped long enough to take off my coat and toss it into the passenger seat....and then tested the reality of my locked car doors by clicking again to hear the honk.....and i turned to walk into the church...and there was a woman walking by.....i am not sure whether she was coming from the home at the end of the parking lot, or from the church playground, or from comp care....i smiled at her......this much i can be sure....and she turned to me and said...'my, but you look nice today'......and then she walked on.....that my part i am doubly sure...because i listened extra carefully because she said "my".......my own family never bothers to comment on my appearance in public, and yet this stranger managed to stop me dead in my tracks with an un-foreseen complement.....i am reminded of the soulful tune by Joan Osborne...

"What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

The woman who spoke to me was just a slob like one of us who took the time to say something kind to one of use....and this act of random kindmess made a differnece in my path toward righteousness.

exasperated....

ok, so....i have so much going on that blogging appears to have dropped down in the list of priorities.....behind parenting issues, budgetary woes, supervisory snafus, and the small yet irritating annoyances that keep me awake at night....like the floral silk scarf that i last wore with the black linen dress ....lost.....and my mother's taxes that remain at the accountant's office......unfinished......that sort of thing.....and the hydrangeas that are either slow to bud out or are in fact....dead....and last ,but not least....is our blind but not deaf cat that decided at 4:30 am to demand her breakfast......not ready to put her out of our misery....too much going on....

a wink is as good as a nod to a blind cat

ok, so.....long-time with no blogs.....there is plenty to blog about, but most of what is going on in my humble existence is embargoed information, either with regards to work, or family, or some form of denial on my part......that said, i have concluded that the cat's pitiable decline is fair game, so to speak.....the cat's eyes started out looking bloodshot, with dilated pupils and an eerie appearance.....the child most likely to be concerned about pet health insisted that she be taken to the vet and all manner of treatment be afforded her.....alas, the cat is at least 14 years old, scraggly and scrawny.....and while emotions may nudge at lifesaving heroics, reality suggests that making her safe and comfortable in her decline is the kindest thing we can do....and so we pick her up and bring her back in the house when she wanders, and nudge her in the general directon of the door when she runs straight into the wall....this has happened more than once, and it is painful to watch......she sometimes misses the plant shelf in the guest room where she takes her meals, or just barely gets her paws hooked on the edge and has to drag herself the rest of the way up.....our poor precious......

reflections on handedness....

ok, so.....the nytimes had an article on handedness this week...one that i have read more than once in hopes of finding clarity.....here is a curious quote....The percentage of left-handers in the population seems to be relatively constant, at 10 percent. And this goes back to studies of cave paintings, looking at which hands hunters are using to hold their spears, and to archaeological analyses of ancient artifacts. So though there has been prejudice against left-handers, and though there may be some developmental risks, said Dr. Geschwind, “there clearly must be advantages as well. The reason why it maintains that way, nobody knows what it is.”

clear advantages to be in the bottom 10% of the population? hmmmm.....i am at a loss for what those advantages might be.....

for the record, i write (poorly) with my left hand, eat with my left hand, and as i sit typing my coffee is at my left hand......if it were the evening, my wine glass would be at my right....i use regular scissors, bat and hold a racket with my right hand......i type with 2 fingers...mostly...sometimes 4 but only if i make an effort and concentrate on the task....i wear my watch on my right wrist....a sure giveaway of handedness......it is a struggle to actually put on a watch, as my left hand is less agile with small tasks....

in my current work day i must 'sign out' at lunch on a board that can only be reached comfortably by a right-hander.....and so i have made it a point of pride to write 'walking' or 'rotary' or 'lunch' in vaguely recognizable block letters with my right hand......and i am in awe that i hold the marker as awkwardly with that hand as i hold any writing implement in my left hand.....could it be that i have no handedness at all? or is my state of ambidextrousness the product of a scrambled brain?

i mentioned at the start that i often reread passages for clarity.....reread entire books numerous times in hopes of gleaning a few extra insights.....could i simply have a learning disability relating to reading that has been overcome by sheer will and persistence? I have rarely read the printed word in novel form since i discovered how to click an order and download a novel to my iphone.....i find a level of satisfaction with the spoken word that i can never recall achieving with rereading the written word.....does this have anything to do with a brain muddled by handedness?

having had my say on personal handedness issues, where do i go from here?.....nowhere different than before my 'rant'.....i suppose...though it will be interesting to see how senility will express itself in terms of handedness....will i simply forget how to hold a pen with my left hand and start using the right hand? will i forget how to use my left hand for fork-ready foods and stop eating altogether?.....or could the advantange of left-handedness be the ability to roll with the punches of senility in a way unknwon to the righties?....hopefully these revelations are years away....and i wil have plenty of time to muddle through with my muddled brain in the meantime....

fast-forward....

ok, so.....circumstances of late are mostly gloomy....with the potential for major cuts in funding for public health (maternal and child nutrition, contraception, breast and cervical cancer. etc...) funding cuts will almost certainly lead to staffing cuts, and mayhem and morale issues will certainly follow.....i would give my eye teeth to simply fast-forward past it all.....

eat, pray, love

ok, so.....i went ahead and watched the movie despite being not-so enamored of the book.....maybe it is because i could not get my mind around a journey to self-discovery that did not include living for a time in paris....

the week that was.....

ok, so......my week started off with the phone call from my mother asking me for a ride to the ER...seems she tripped over the cord to her electric bed pad and split her lip....the ER visit was complicated by the series of questions put ot my mother by each practitioner about the exact anture of her injury....was it an accident or granny abuse- not in so many words but that was the gist.....the fall came on the very day that her housecleaner picked up all the newspapers, inserts, envelopes and other mail components that my mother tosses aside after reading.....it is a miracle that she has not fallen long before this.....i volunteered at the free clinic on Tuesday after work, then went on to the college pool to watch our daughter's last swim meet.....Wednesday evening I helped serve at a church supper...Thursday after work was my EKU class......and finally on Friday I went straight home from work....amen, amen, and amen.....I am following the OSU-Minnesota game on CNN- given that CBS chose to air Wisconsin-Michigan State instead this afternoon.....will probably watch the football game- for the commercials if nothing else....

A Palin-free February

ok, so.....one of my dear on-line Scrabble partners posted to her Facebook page a piece from the Washington Post in which Dana Milbanks takes the Palin-Free February Pledge....he theorizes that she gets coverage because so many of us are obsessed with reading about her latest foolishness, our 'clicks' on links/stories etc just encourages those who write these stories to cover her antics more often.....he further asserts that if we simply stop reading/watching about her, those who write and broadcast will move on to more substantive fodder.....worth a try on my end.....the woman makes me crazy, and is likely to blame (at least partially) for my recent bouts of high blood pressure....so starting Tuesday I pledge to not click on stories I know to be about her......i do not know if I will be able to avert my eyes from headlines that include her name....I would have to give up all news outlets for the month as well.....but I ceetainly can restrain my urge to click on those stories for 28 full daysa....

tragic shooting in AZ

ok, so....a third term democratic congresswoman was shot and 12 others killed or wounded as a gunman opened fire at a town meeting in Tuscon yesterday....the shooter was captured and his myspace site scoured for clues.....from all i can read about him he appears to be anti-government.....my brother has FB'ed that the shooter was clearly a left-wing radical......clearly?......i would describe that sentiment as right-wing....the congresswoman was still shown as under the cross hairs of SarahPac....and the congresswoman herself has given public comment on the 'cross hairs' issue......so, should we as reasonable Americans hold SP responsible for inciting the unstable to actually put the targeted congresswoman in his cross hairs?