A DRY OCTOBER DAY

We had rain only twice in September, I think, for an inch and a quarter, total. Nothing so far in the rain bucket for Oct. But we have a promise of Tropical Storm Karen working her way up here beginning of next week. They promise 3 days of rain. Lord knows, we need it. Normally I would have drained the hoses and had them back in their garbage can for the winter, but not this year. I got some mums for my birthday, and they need to drink or die. I put some out front next to a campaign sign for one of my “boys.” Well, Ralph has not been a BOY for quite a few years, but once they are your boys, they are always your boys. Who would have believed that skinny little kid would be first a neurological pediatrician, then a Senator, and now running for Lt Governor? But he has always been a good boy, and that is what counts most, isn’t it? Anyway, I have a few of his signs up and this was a perfect place for some of the mums.

 

As I said, it has been dry. The deer are coming up into the yard to drink out of the bird feeders. I find them  drained dry every morning and have finally put a tub of water out for them. When there is water in the ground baths, it stays very busy. I was happy to get this shot since the other birds tend to scare the cardinals away from the birdbaths. Can you see him?

 

The veggie gardens are just about done, but I have baby yellow wax beans just coming. This is the second planting in my stand-uppity garden.

The tomatoes have been slow this year. Many of them just up and died. The ones I plant in strange places, after the tomato garden itself was full, are still going strong. Not often one sees tomatoes in an azalea bush! But this seems to be a favorite growing area.

I was told I did not show any of my window boxes… and these are right outside the window here, with my birthday camellia behind them.

 

Thanks for visiting my garden!

SOME THOUGHTS, SOME GRATITUDE

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but that is not a complaint… not even really an excuse for not staying in touch, but time has been short for blogging with so many other things to worry about. I have tried to keep up with some of you in private emails as blogger is being uncooperative again. Once again, storms have changed people’s lives. My cousin lost their cabin on the Susquehanna River up near Wilkes Barre, PA. But, that could have been their primary residence, so while a serious loss, they still have their home and all their belongings. And no one lost their lives – most important of all. Check off that little box on your gratitude list!

Normally this is a hectic time of year anyway, tons of things to do as summer winds down, a dozen events going on before it gets too cold, sometimes having to run from one event in the morning to another in the afternoon or evening. I feel like my friend, Ralph, bless his heart, who is running for Senate again and is trying to be in 5 places at once and still maintain a practice at Children’s Hospital. As I listened to his schedule yesterday, I just shook my head wondering how he does it all. But, he is much younger and in better health and has a team making all his arrangements. I am feeling my age! But keeping going keeps me going. Does that make any sense to you? I know if I quit and put my feet up, I won’t be getting back up.

My auntie up in the Wilkes Barre area had to be evacuated. This was not an easy thing to do as she was one of the hard heads who stayed in her house back during Hurricane Agnes (39 years ago) and had folks coming by boat bringing food and water to her thru the 2^nd floor window. But, for some folks, Lee brought more flooding and destruction than Agnes. The river went up to 43 feet. It was a shallow muddy puddle when I crossed it this summer to see her. But, as of last night, she is back in her apartment in her senior apartment building, full of praise for her son and DIL for treating her like royalty (which she is, of course!) My only regret is I was not up there to do anything for her – BUT, my house (up there) is on the other side of 2 rivers with lots of flooding creeks in-between Wilkes Barre and White Haven.

Here on the shore, actually, up in Delaware, one little town received 14 inches of rain in about 6 hours. I have been in the Seaford area when it was under water, drove home from PA in 9 inches of water on Route 13 just before they closed it. Talk about timing! That was June, 2006. We saw cars with water up to their roofs in parking lots, drove past houses with water up to the front doors. So sad!

Anyway, it is very busy here taking care of my own commitments and worrying about family and friends. So, if I neglect you a little bit, forgive me. I will catch up maybe sometime in November!

I hope you have made out all right in the storms!

A GOOD MAN, SEVERAL GOOD MEN

Good men are hard to find. Remember hearing that one? (and all the bad jokes, yes, I remember them, too.) I almost never get involved in politics on this blog... unless you know me pretty well, you won't hear much about my political inclinations. I was born into a Republican household, but I was also taught to think for myself somewhere along the line. I can honestly say I am generally above politics - if I like you and what you truly stand for based on what you have done, I will vote for you and support you to the end of the earth. I do think for myself. So, I am going to make my big political statement here... no surprise to some... I am first and foremost against war. I do not believe we have any business being in Iraq or Afghanistan, no business at all. My idea of supporting the troops is to bring them home. Those who love carrying guns, shooting people, hiding behind a uniform or in a tank, we have numerous mercenary groups who are looking for folks like that. With that out of the way, I will not vote for someone who wants to drag us into a war, bomb Iran, or to whom God has supposedly told to get elected and bomb Iraqis, Iranians, or any other group. I am still a Flower Child. That said...

Last week I had an opportunity to meet our former governor and current Senator, Mark Warner. He was Not here campaigning - Senators serve 6 year terms, he has 2 to go. He was just HERE... asking US what was on our minds, what he could do to make life better. It is seldom politicians come to little back water areas like ours even when they are campaiging. Anyway, he was here, there were NO prepared speeches, he read no notes, nothing was written on his hand, nobody stood near-by passing over cheat notes... he just talked WITH us, not TO us. Our Delegate, Lynwood Lewis, introduced him, and turned the floor over to Warner. After a few moments about what was going on in DC and where he stood and a plea for folks to work together, he opened the floor for questions. Folks were civilized (is that a good word? I am beginning to question that term.) and cordial. I jumped in on the No Child Left Behind discussion stating that teachers who read the law knew it was a bad deal from day One... He listened. It was like a conversation with a neighbor, one you like! He was animated, but I think that is just his way of speaking. I wondered how well he could speak if his arms were tied down! He never talked down to us, but then, not to be concieted, the vast majority of the crowd was educated, most with at least a Master's degree.

The Shore has been fortunate. We have had several excellent men representing us, men who cared more about serving the shore than serving their own political interests. One was Republican, and I would vote for him in a heartbeat if he ran again. One is a Democrat, and I will vote for him again in November. Both are men that I cannot find anything to criticize - and trust me, I am good at that! I have known Bob Bloxom most of my life. They don't make them any better than Bob. Actually, Bob was screwed by members of his own party because he voted FOR those of us who voted for him, and not always with his party. Sometimes we get folks in office that are NOT politicians... they are the folks we want who will represent US! Often, the politicians then work to get rid of them.

I had Senator Ralph Northam in school when he was just a little boy - my first year of teaching. He was a sweetheart then and he is the same today (only taller!) Ralph is a neurological pediatric surgeon at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk when he is not in Richmond, and does a lot of work pro bono. I guess the Tea Baggers would call him a socialist (unless it was their child or grandchild he was caring for and they were out of work, had no insurance, no income, etc.) but I just call him one hell of a good man. A man of compassion. An HONEST man - a rare bird in these times. You might think I am dreaming, but I know these men are actually listening to me when I talk to them about something. They don't just say "unh huh," and shake my hand (They are all good huggers!) and not hear a word. They are real people first, politicians last. They are in office to serve those of us who put them there, not the BIG corporations that now own most politicians. They are not there for the money or glory or because they want to bomb somebody or finally make "Poppy" proud.

If you ever have a chance to vote for one of these great men, please do so.

Mark Warner was a good governor and has tried to be as bi-partisan as he could be in DC, working for the good of the People and not for the crippling of the government or the ruin of a president. It takes a lot to impress me... and I am impressed. If the time comes that he chooses to run for a higher office, I certainly would not hesitate to vote for him.

THE DAY AFTER

THE DAY AFTER
I don’t usually cry over elections. But, it has happened now twice. It happened in 2004 when Bush was non-elected again, but those were not tears of joy. Those were tears of disbelief. I just could not believe it happened again. Of course, history has since proven that that election was stolen also. Sometimes I felt like a voice in the wilderness yelling about the electronic voting machines – hell, even I knew how to write a program to screw the voting to the way I wanted it – not that I would. Well, OK, that was an exaggeration… I have not done programming since I used to program my Commodore Pet 64… If you remember what that is – you are older than I thought!!! LOL! Anyway, I cried tears of sorrow 4 years ago knowing it was only going to get WORSE – and guess what???? It sure as heck did.
I was not a big Obama fan, not really a Hillary fan, but I was determined to not have another 4 years of lies, lies, and more lies. On the $$ side of things, I was worth a whole lot more under Clinton than I am today. And I can name over 4,000 Americans who were alive that are now gone. 4,190 is the last count on http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/. And that does not count the suicides of all the guys who have come home and just could not cope. Then there is the list of the wounded. Of course, in my opinion, every one who goes to war is wounded. And don't tell me how many were killed in other wars - like these kids don't count!
"If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle...your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos." – Martin Luther King Jr.
And then there are all those other nameless (to Americans) Iraqis, Afghanis, Pakistanis, and other people who were victims of what history will prove to be the greatest lie perpetrated on the world in recent years.
But McCain really, really scared me - and Palin was an insult to women. Unfortunately, a lot of them have never realized they were being insulted! My Republican friends and family sent me email after email filled with lies and words of fear and I wondered how in God's name they could actually believe these things? But, a long time ago, I was taught there are 2 kinds of people, those that think and those that react. And that is the key to scare politics. Don't give them time to think - just keep scaring them and they won't be able to think.
I remember a history prof of mine who said the way to control the masses is to "Get them in their wallets or get them in their gonads. Whatever you do, don't give them a chance to think before they react!" I was too young to really understand that - that was in the Kent State days, if you remember those troubling times.

I believe Obama actually won with a greater margin than we will ever know – again I do not trust those machines. Here in Virginia we will be getting rid of them and going back to paper ballots.
It was interesting sitting at the polls yesterday watching people coming to vote who have never voted before and those who have not voted in years. I knew by watching that our precinct would not go Obama. We got a few smiles our way, a few thumbs up, but most of my “friends” and neighbors did not speak or do more than cast a quick glance my way. Mostly they had their heads down, eyes lowered. They were not smiling. Those that came over and spoke, I could count on one hand.

As I said in a previous post, we had a tent. Well, duh, some of us do listen to the weather reports. You don't have to be a Weather Watcherer to do that! The opposition had a couple of folding chairs and signs to stick in the ground, that is all. We had a table under our tent with voting info for the new folks, 3 chairs, coffee, water, lap blankets, spare jackets in case anyone showed up wearing a political shirt that would not be allowed in the polling place.
When it started to rain, the “other” side folded up their chairs and came over to our tent, unfolded their chairs and plopped down. The one person never even said as much as hello – she just opened her chair and sat! We (grinningly) told them that if they were going to sit in the Democrat tent, they had to wear an Obama sticker! “She” slapped her chair together and stormed out into the rain, putting her chair and herself back in her car. He apologized, said it was her chair, folded his up and followed her to her car.
Had they bothered to even look at us, they would have seen we didn’t have any Obama stickers on – we ran out of them weeks ago! I felt guilty about that for a few seconds, but I got over it.

One of the voters, an ancient fellow, old and tiny, looked to be about a 110 but I am sure wasn’t a day over 95, toddled in to vote. As he toddled back across the street, a neighbor asked him if he had done his duty. “Yes, indeedy,” he replied in a shaky voice. “I voted for MacLaine and that hottie of his, Sarah Palin, and, whatshername, McDrake” (Thelma Drake, who lost reelection to congress.) Well, he got one name right! That hottie of his!!!!! I am still chuckling!!!!!

This morning, in-between spells of rain, I went out in the yard to take down my collection of yard signs. Unfortunately, I found this.
This 4x8 Obama sign had been hit before, and I found the piece knocked out of it and I'd put it back in place. My sign is one of the few Obama signs that did not get stolen. It has had beer bottles and pumpkins thrown at it, a hole punched in it – but this is what I found this morning.
My plan was to take all the signs down this morning, I don’t leave things up like some people do – it is over – take the signs down… but, the metal was so twisted, I could not get the post out. We used bunches of ties to make it more difficult for the vandals to just steal the sign by popping a few corners, so I guess they just got frustrated and pushed it to the ground. They probably got interrupted and ran before trying to twist the other 2 posts to the ground. These are those strong metal fence posts, about $6 a piece – not little flimsy things. This took some effort. All I can say is – how sad. But it is this mentality that made me support Obama. It is this mentality that sends out Muslim hate emails and tries to scare people with anything different.
The sign will remain out in the yard until one of the men come to pull it out. It is a testimony to ignorance and prejudice. Maybe it should stay there a while longer. The sad thing is – I am sure the doer is proud of his work. Guess he showed me, huh? – or Obama, right? Yes, but he is not aware of what he showed us.

YES!!!! YES WE CAN!!!

YES!!!!! YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am too choked up to say any more!