If I was Mrs. Johnson,

I would either pack my grief away & go after them 24/7 or find the meanest and most competent people on earth to rep me. I would find out.

This is wrong on so many levels. They are bullying her because they think they can with no repercussions. They want political points.

I sent ESPN a message about helping Puerto Rico.

ESPN and MLB are intertwined in many ways. They broadcast games and have reporters that work exclusively on baseball.
Many of the players are Puerto Rican. They have been trying to help.
ESPN also owns a Spanish-language cable channel called ESPN Desportes.

I suggested that ESPN team up with MLB to help PR. Those groups both have a huge reach. They could use some of their Hispanic talent to get it moving.
It would be a win-win. ESPN would get a ton of good pr and help themselves in many ways. PR would get more desperately needed help.

This is not out of the realm of possibility. They have been a huge success in raising money for cancer research in memory of Jim Valvano. This was a once in a lifetime storm and a once in a lifetime chance to rebuild an entire area. It could be framed so that they are not expected to step in for every disaster. This is a unique situation.

If you go to their website, they have an email form to fill out. I have sent them messages before and they do read them.
Yes, it’s a longshot but what can it hurt if they got a lot of push to do this.

I did a good deed and then wanted to burn everything I was wearing.

I met a neighbor when I was leaving to run errands. He asked me if I smelled the garbage in the upstairs apartment across from my building. I looked and saw some white trash bags on the patio. I told him no but I might be upwind.

He lived in the apartment below and as we walked toward his building, I got a whiff. A shithouse mouse would gag. From what I could gather, he had tried to talk to her but she never answered the door. Sooooooooo, I volunteered to try to help and get the bags moved. He stayed around to carry them and for backup.

I’m sure those who know me here think I asked her if she knew her patio could knock a buzzard off a shitwagon. Well, Mama raised me better so I turned on my pleasant, Southern button. I knocked and she finally came to the door. She had seen me watching the birds on my patio so I guess she thought I was ok. Ha!

I went full Southern and told her I had just noticed those trash bags. I wondered if she needed a little bit of help getting them thrown away because I just knew she wanted to sit out there. She was overjoyed. She was from NY and disabled her daughter did live down here but had moved back and her DIL only came every now and then. That’s what it sounded like.

So out to the patio we went. One bag was not quite full but the other bag was bursting at the seams. (Pause for dramatic music). We tried to put it in another bag. Bad idea. It tore about 8 inches. That was enough for little white larvae to fall out. Oh joy. I immediately went into teacher mode. In teacher mode, I never react openly to anything. I just deal with it .

I went to my apartment and got a bigger bag. I also grabbed some hand sanitizer. Bathing in that crossed my mind. I got back in time to see a bigger tear and more critters. We loaded the bag into the bigger one and I suggested she get some bleach. I really wanted to suggest renting a flamethrower or using napalm.

So I left with her garbage and whatever families were living in it. By now, I was itching all over. The man took the bags and threw them away. We both used the sanitizer. I told him I had given her my phone number and suggested she call me if the trash needed nuking. Hopefully, I won’t regret that.

I postponed my errands while I took a shower in scalding water. My clothes went right into the wash and I looked for the ‘surface of the sun’ temperature setting. I don’t know if my shoes were supposed to be washed but they went round too. Moonpie and Tater informed me that they almost voted me out of the apartment. They were suitably horrified.

Thus endeth another adventure. I am glad I helped although I could have done with no fauna. I think of Tennessee Williams and ‘the kindness of strangers.’ I’m no spring chicken and that could be me. I will check on her. I am also trying to think of someone to help and keep her on their radar.

My sweet Southern switch has been turned off. I am now back to my usual cranky and surly. I feel so much better. I am still trying to get over the itchy feeling.

Gun control

About a month ago, my brother once more went off about guns saying “They want to take our guns.”
I snapped. I have talked to him about this before but I think Faux news and other people have planted controls in him and others. I yelled at him and told him nobody wanted his fucking guns.
They did not want his rifles or hand guns if he has any. They do not want those items used for sport or protection.

Why do you jackasses have to have automatic rifles, silencers, million bullet magazines? Why do you ignorant toads need to carry guns everywhere all the time so that nobody knows who is a danger. Guns on campus?

I told him the fucking wanted some goddam sense to prevail. They want people to go through basic checks before they get guns. Yes, criminals will always ge5 guns etc, etc but do we have to hand them out. There are others who don’t need access without other consideration.

AND I DON’T WANT EVERY IDEA THAT CROSSES THE NRA’S MIND TO BECOME LAW.

This is what I call the gun cloud. We live in this cloud the NRA has created in which guns have become accepted as the only way to solve anything. It’s guns 24/7.

I do believe in the 2nd Amendment. I just don’t interpret it like some. I do not believe it grants access to everything. I gre up with guns. The people I know had a lot of them. They knew how to use them and they respected their power. Woe be unto anyone who played with one or did not follow basic gun safety.

When I finished my brother quietly said, “That makes sense.”
I think half of SC heard me.

Senator John Thune said those being shot add should make themselves small.

This is dedicated to all those affected by the Las Vegas tragedy.

Home will never be the same. I hope they find some peace in the new place they will have to build.
Give them strength.
Hold them tight.
Grant them peace.