My thoughts are all over the place this morning. Here are a few things bouncing around in my brain:
Texas! What a mess. Ted Cruz – what a jerk. Seriously, what senator would not stay and pitch in to help the state you have been elected to serve? I have never liked the guy but he seems to have gotten more and more out of touch as time goes by. And, he has no spine. Trump said horrible, false things about his father – and Cruz is back on board with the guy. Will Texas vote him out? The Lack of integrity so he can get reelected is just ridiculous. He has been caught lying about the Cancun trip. He’s a cad.
Rain! I’m sick of it. But I am living in a place that is not dealing with really bad weather issues. Again, Texas! But, there are so many states that have snow and ice right now. I Really feel for people living in those states. Cold. Slippery roads. Shoveling. I sure had enough of All of that living in Ohio and in New Jersey. So, I can take the rain. Plus, I keep reminding myself it’s really good for the trees and plants.
Sidenote: we played a little game in our family last weekend where we each picked a song that is special, or amazingly performed, or has awesome lyrics – or all of that. I picked the song “Bring on the Rain” by Lee Ann Womack. It’s a bit of an obscure song, but I love the lyrics. Take a listen. It’s beautiful, haunting, and encouraging. Basically it says you can get through anything. Even when it’s raining… and you feel like crying. But “tomorrow’s another day – so bring on the rain!” “I’m not going to let it get me down. I’m not gonna lose any sleep. …And, I’m not afraid. So, bring on the rain.”
Trash. It’s such a problem around here right now. Our roadsides are littered with it from a year of nobody picking it up (prison crews have been on CoVid lockdown). I have made it my little mission to work on this problem. I have emailed our state Congressional members. I have contacted local officials. I wrote on Next Door Neighbor, and put an editorial in our local newspaper. I have decided to take control of my piece of road and have started going out to clean it up every two weeks or so. Just in that amount of time I find new beer bottles, alcohol minis, soda cans, fast food wrappers. Obviously these items are tossed out car windows by people who don’t seem to care. It’s very frustrating. I went out a few days ago, when there was a break in the rain, and cleaned up all around the business that is down on our corner… it’s called “China Chill,” a convenient store and gas station. I drive by it just about every day and the trash around it was such an annoying eyesore to me. So, I went out and picked up a lot of it. We need to take responsibility – and set an example. A lot of people saw me out there, but nobody said anything. That’s okay. Just don’t throw more out your windows or drop trashy stuff on the ground!!
Waiting. Baby Watch is in full gear right now. My newest grandchild should arrive in the next couple of weeks. The due date is March 2nd. My daughter looks great, and is ready. Little Madelynn’s room is ready and everything is prepared for her arrival. I will quickly throw my clothes into a suitcase and head there when labor starts. Since it’s CoVid life now I can not go to the hospital, but I will be waiting for when they bring her home.
Speaking of hospitals, one of our neighbors fell last week, hit her head – and her husband called an ambulance. She went to our local hospital, and while still in the ER Alone (again CoVid life) she decided to get up out of her bed and walk – and she fell and broke her hip! She had to be transferred up to a bigger hospital where she had hip replacement. Her wrist is broken too. She has stitches on her head. She had a brain bleed but thankfully it stopped on it’s own. She is not a ‘youngster’ and she is not a person who moves around much, so her rehab will be challenging. Her husband is also not a ‘youngster’ and is slight in build. He won’t be able to lift her, etc. It’s not a good situation. I pray they get through this.
Due to CoVid life I am on social media more. I’m stuck inside. And the rain doesn’t help either. I have had some interesting conversations on topics that leave me pretty unsure on how we can ever get along with each other. One topic: the confederate flag. A country music singer Luke Combs apologized this past week about having the confederate flag in past pictures, and in not getting ” it”… that it is a sign of racism. He said he knows better now. He’s a South Carolina guy. Raised in the mountains near Asheville. Well, the comments on his post were unbelievable to say the least. I know I live in the south and I live around some rural ‘good ole boys’ but it wasn’t just that type who wrote about being proud of their white heritage, and the confederate flag being a part of it, and how they were not going to change for anyone. I saw it over and over. The thing about Facebook – I can click on their names and pull up their personal page. Depending on the security blocks they have, I can learn a lot about them…. where they live, what they support, comments about politics, etc. Oh my! Some are very scary! What I learned the most is these people seem to be very afraid of losing their ‘place’ in the world. They do not want others to come up in life, and they certainly don’t want ‘them’ to take their stuff. Lots of fear. Lots of acting tough and being defensive! No comments about trying to understand how the flag symbol can be offensive… or that removing it is an act of kindness.
My other FB interaction has been with someone who is a conservative and supporter of Trump. We have gone back and forth for weeks now. Occasionally we tick each other off, but we also ask questions and try to listen. She is as determined in her beliefs as I am in mine. We won’t change each other. I just like that we can see some gray in this black & white world. She won’t budge on Her desire for ending legal abortion. She won’t budge on economic worries. I won’t budge on my belief on women having rights over their own bodies, and I won’t budge on governing with compassion… which can take money. We disagree on immigration. We disagree on foreign relationships. We disagree on energy sources. But – we talk (through FB) and when she asks a question I answer it my way. She answers her way. I consider her a friend, and I truly care about her and her family. I’ve never asked her about the Confederate flag. She’s born and raised southern. I might just have to ask.
Our one pug Honeybee continues to be a day in, day out, concern. Last week she had a pretty big seizure. Since then she has had a head tic when awake. It’s not there all the time but often. It stops when she sleeps. It could be from the medicine she has been on, or it could be something neurological. We had a full body scan done on her a few weeks ago and no tumors or cancer areas showed up in her head or anywhere else. So, it’s a mystery. Each day we see if she is still having some quality of life. I think she is. Not every day. But enough to keep her with us.
Time to finish up here and get my rainy day started. Errands to run in it. “But I’m not gonna let it get me down… bring on the rain!”
Marla’s Musings 