I’m sitting on a Saturday morning watching CMT music videos. It’s been awhile since I spent time catching up on the hit songs & videos. It brings me joy! This year I need (yes, need) to enjoy more country music concerts. I already have my tickets for the CMA Fest in Nashville in June, and I am heading up to my bestie’s in PA for a similar country music weekend event on the Jersey shore the following weekend. I also have tickets to see Lainey Wilson at Coyote Joe’s in Charlotte next month. But, I definitely need to make it to a few McGraw concerts this year. And, I will always go see Keith, Dierks, and Eric. I might have to travel – but I will. Life is short. I have good health and can do it now, so I need to do it! 😊
Music makes the world go round!
So do grandkids! I’m off to babysit my granddaughter on Monday for a whole week. Will it be exhausting? Caring for a 22 month old little one? Physically. Probably – but it is SO WORTH IT! These are precious moments! The troubles of the world disappear when you hang with a toddler. The time will be good for my soul!
I live in a rural area by a river and it’s duck hunting season. So every morning now, about ten minutes before sunrise, the hunters start shooting – 6:45am ish. These guys get up really really early, and head out in their little jon boats (often camouflaged with fake grass and reeds) in the dark, find a spot, and wait for when it is legal to start shooting. It’s pretty cold out there too. But they are dedicated, and they like shooting down ducks. I’m not really sure how it works. Do they wait for them to start flying? Do they make a noise to stir them awake? Do they bring home the ducks, prepare them, and eat them? Do the hunters ever think about the loud sounds of gunfire that wake people? (No!!) I don’t get the thrill of duck hunting but I realize we all have different ‘hobbies.’ I also realize it is something passed down from generation to generation, one never in my family’s story.
Why is gun shooting cool? Why does it seem like a macho ‘right of passage”? What are we teaching our little boys?
I wonder: Why are top secret documents being so easily misplaced? And, has this been a problem with all presidents over time – but the media never made it an issue before? Were past presidents and their staffs guilty of misfiling, misplacing, perhaps because they are overworked and overtired? Were documents quietly turned in before? I feel like the found documents have become such a political issue – and a game of ‘tit for tat.’ You found mine, well then I will find yours. You sue me, I will sue you. You get a special investigation, I get a special investigation.
I asked this on Facebook the other day and I truly want to hear some reasoning on this subject: so I will ask again. One of the first things Republicans did in the House once they got a speaker and finally got down to business was to shrink the number of employees at the IRS. Why? For years the IRS has been understaffed and backlogged. Processing tax returns takes time. And, some of the returns need to be ‘red flagged’ and audited. More employees improve the system. More illegal (or accidental) wrong returns will be caught – and that means more people will owe more…. which then goes into the state and federal accounts for bettering our country. Statistically the wealthy will be most effected. Oh, and isn’t employing more people a good thing? More people working means more people contributing to the system. And more people needing charity or federal assistance. What am I missing? Can it be that some want to lessen the chance that they themselves are caught?? Do some want to get away with illegal returns??
Man, it seems there have been a lot of people dying in only in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Way too young! The latest is Lisa Marie Presley. The poor woman had a tough life, with a famous family, as an only child, married 4 times, losing a son to suicide, and struggling with drug issues off and on. She rarely smiled in pictures. She had her daddy’s eyes and his addiction troubles. Her pain here on earth is over.
I follow a local app called GAB (Georgetown and Beyond) and I have seen obituaries lately of people in their 50’s. Here, where I live, people live hard. Georgetown is a rural southern town, yes, it’s the county seat, but it’s still full of so many people struggling to make ends meet. I wonder how much this leads to an early death. I find it interesting that some – in their 50’s – are grandparents already. So they were early parents – not ready to raise a family. I read the obituaries – and they leave me wondering what led to the early deaths. Obits rarely say the cause of death. There is still a way of life here that is mostly blue collar, factory work, with limited ways to better yourself – and there are little avenues to better life financially. Education is not stressed. It’s still about survival. It’s about ‘born here and die here.’
If you are a Dunkin Donuts person, you must try their warm avocado, tomato, and bacon sandwich. You can thank me later.
Speaking of restaurants and recommendations, when you see an online post about how good a restaurant is, do you believe it? We have a few community online sites that speak of local restaurants and thy recommend them in posts, but I have to say, I think they are usually the owners, or friends asked to write them. I don’t believe them.
Hey!!! Get over Hunter Biden. Move on. Republicans, you need to start acting like grown ups who care about important issues.
Do you have a football team choice you think will make it to the Super Bowl? Yesterday were two wildcard games and today there are two more. Hubby and I like to watch. Then it’s on to league championship games – and on to the BIG GAME! So, are you excited about Rihanna as the halftime performer? I have no interest in watching her. Tim McGraw is in concert before the game – as part of the celebrations leading up to it. I’d rather see him for halftime. But, he and other country artists don’t put on ‘spectacles’ or do more dancing than singing. It’s about the music to them. Not the ‘show.’ So, I I don’t think we will see a country artist picked for halftime anytime soon. But they perform the National Anthem. Last year it was Mickey Guyton, considered country but not really. No name has been announced yet for this year. I just checked.
I will end this with reminding you that tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I hope you pause to think about civil rights in America. I think we need to remember the hardships, even bloodshed, that our country has gone through for what should be a simple thing: Equal rights for everyone. It is crazy to think we have not been able to live together peacefully. In fact hate crimes are on an upswing. You can’t help but think the meanness spewed about the border refugees, and the rhetoric by some in recent years, including a president, has set the US back. Rep. John Lewis said change takes generations – but to never give up. We must lose the word ‘entitlement’ – we are all in this together!!
Peace to you.
Marla’s Musings 