Stray thoughts

From things I've heard in passing lately, the problems with the nation's economy are not hitting as hard here in Louisiana. I'm not any kind of expert, as a matter of fact I'm pretty under-informed about the whole situation so I don't know if that's true or not. However, everytime someone talks about it in my hearing I think about a country song called "Song of the South" by Alabama. More specifically, I think of two lines from the second verse:

Well, somebody told us Wall Street fell
But we were so poor that we couldn't tell.

Even though the song is about the Depression, the lyrics make me think of quite a few of the people I know.

Thinking about all of this brings to mind the other stray thought. My toilet is making noises like a Yip-Yip and flushing itself at 6 am. What a lovely alarm clock. So either the plumbing has been invaded by fuzzy little aliens from the planet Henson or I'm about to discover an expensive problem. Yay for me. I'm calling my dad.

naming God (as an accomplice)

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a problem with religion. It's not that I don't believe in God or that I hate all religious stuff. I just don't like the way most religious groups preach one thing and do another. Like tolerance. Saying "love thy neighbor" doesn't mean a whole lot when you are bad mouthing the neighbor because they aren't "real" christians.
Part of my problem is that I just have no appreciation for fanaticism. Whether it's of the tight-lipped, judgemental kind or the wild-haired, eye-rolling martyr type, I pretty much lose interest about the point some yahoo tells me they heard it straight from God's mouth. Somehow I have a hard time believing God is all that interested in talking to some freeze-dried whackaloon.
Reading the news this morning, I ran across this article. Basically, this little 11 year old girl in Wisconsin died because her parents believed it was better to pray over her than take her to a doctor. She had a treatable form of diabetes, which apparently went undiagnosed. Even though she had been showing signs of serious illness for over a month according to family and friends, her parents thought they should just hold fast in their faith and everything would be okay. I read the article and even watched the video. During the video, pieces of two 911 calls are played. The one from the aunt was awful. The aunt seemed sure the mother would fight EMS over taking the daughter to the hospital. Then I read this article, which was an interview with some so-called man of God about his interaction with the family. He had apparently spoken to the parents as they rode behind the ambulance transporting their comatose daughter. I'll just paste the bit that pissed me off:

In the call Sunday, "they told me that she had stopped breathing and asked if I would pray that The Lord would spare her and raise her up, which I did," he wrote. "I called on our prayer ministers and elders to pray for her too. "The next thing I heard from them was that they were being investigated,which is sad since they don't investigate the people who put their trust in doctors whose family members die by the hundreds of thousands from medical mistakes every year, according the AMA's own admission. "We know that the doctors do the best they can with what they have and we do not condemn them. We would like the same consideration."

Umm, excuse me?? This moron is comparing his mouthing of pleas and platitudes with the work of a doctor who knows how to treat the disease the girl had. How on earth these dummies think their prayers are on the same level as actual treatment just floors me. Sorry, prayers and faith are great but THEY ARE NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR REAL MEDICAL INTERVENTION! Pray all you want while the doctors are giving your kid medicine. Just don't leave out the part where you take the kid to the doctor. As far as I'm concerned the parents are guilty of criminal negligence, that freak preacher is guilty of encouraging (or demanding, depending on his preaching) same and now the adults who should have been taking care of this kid are trying to blame God. That's right, I said blame. None of them are taking responsibility. None of them are saying "Yes, I decided not to take Madeline to the doctor when she got sick. I decided she didn't need medicine, just prayer. I denied Madeline medical care and she died because I decided to pray instead of use my God-given common sense." Not one of these adults has stepped forward and admitted their decisions were this little girl's primary cause of death. Nope, instead they are all saying "We prayed for her" "We did the best we could do" "We stayed fast in prayer" "Our lives are in God's hands" . So, in other words, they are saying it isn't their fault this little girl died from a treatable condition (diabetes), she died because God wanted her to. Somehow, I have a problem believing that. God gave us brains and brains are for thinking, not filling up the space inside your skull to keep down the echoes. As far as the last sentence in the preacher's statement, about receiving the same consideration as doctors, I call BULLSHIT! He doesn't deserve any consideration, he deserves at the least a foot in the ass. He and the parents did not do the best they could, they didn't do anything (the parents weren't even the ones who called 911). Why should they receive any consideration, why does he think that his efforts were on par with what a doctor could have done? A doctor could have actually treated Madeline for diabetes. Instead, Madeline dies at the ripe old age of 11 and her parents and preacher pat themselves on the back for keeping the faith. That's not a miscarriage of justice, that's an abortion of truth. How much you wanna bet her parents are pro-lifers committed to saving unborn children? Too bad Madeline was already past the fetal stage.

7 Days

Ok, here's a quick rundown of the last 7 days
Friday - sick all day, then the stove died. Bought new stove online, to be picked up on Saturday.
Saturday - went to work, still sick, busted ass all day. T called to tell me the store didn't have the stove we paid for so we were getting a different one. Got flat tire on the way home. Rode home on the spare (scary). Admired new stove, discussed some things with T. Tried to call Wench to cancel plans for Sunday, couldn't get her. Gave up and went to bed.
Sunday - helped T thread and install pipe for gas fireplace, cleaned house, more discussion of issues. Gave up and went to bed.
Monday - worked, worried and worked some more. T put new tire on car, took him to lunch. Ran into SIL, nephew and SIL's aunt at restaraunt. Went back to store and worked some more. Went home, more discussion. Gave up and went to bed.
Tuesday - worked. Found out I may need to update my resume in the near future. Seriously considered finding a hole, crawling in and pulling the ground in behind me. Went home, gave up and went to bed.
Wednesday - sat by phone until I heard from Dad's wife. His surgery went well, they don't think the retina will detach this time, only one more surgery left. Headed for BR, to buy freezer and groceries. Couldn't find right freezer at Sears. Found some jeans (which I desperately needed) and some books. Found freezer at Sam's. Bought freezer and LOTS of groceries. Came home, put everything up, read until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Went to bed.
Thursday - went to BR for T's surgery. Got there at 10:30, waited in Pre-op until after 2 pm. They took him in and I waited. Surgeon came out at 3:30, said everything went better than expected. Finally headed for home at 4:30, didn't get home until 7 something. Very bad traffic.
Got T settled, called the family to let them know (they had all called me, but I couldn't talk and drive), typed this, gave up and went to bed. I don't know why I am so damned tired.

Not a wonderful week, very draining and stressful. On the plus side, I bought a bunch of new books. Heavy Words Lightly Thrown is by a librarian from London, examining the stories behind nursery rhymes. I enjoyed it, lots of info presented in an engaging, funny way. I could almost hear his accent when I read. Not a very long book. Also picked up an anthology of Dorothy Parker's short stories (the actual title is Dorothy Parker Stories). Read it today while waiting. Very 1930s. Kept my attention so worth it to me. Not, however, for those who like happy endings or nice people.
A little more for the plus column, T and Dad both are doing fine. Dad's eye looks great, according to his doctor. So he only has one more to go. T's surgeon told me that he didn't have to do any reconstruction on the rotator cuff, it looked better than he thought it would. That means no immobilization for 6 weeks. YAY!! A sling tonight and for a little while longer for comfort. Also, the surgeon at this point thinks by spring everything will be back to 100%. I'm sure I've left something else good out, but can't think what. To everyone who expressed concern and wished us well, many thanks. Good thoughts and hugs right back to all. Now I'm gonna go get some sleep. Morning comes early and T is already asleep.

One damned thing after another

Let's see if I can do this. First, there was Thanksgiving. The Barbarian Horde decided to play football about 8 p.m. Since they didn't have enough barbarians for even one full team, it turned into Tackle Tag fairly quickly. I had a blast watching them, only took a few pics, I was laughing too hard. Here's one:Then it was Shadow's birthday on Nov 28th. Then T's birthday on Dec 1st. My dad's birthday is Dec 4th. Some of my family got together for Dad's birthday, and I took a few pictures. This one is my younger brother (aka Toothpick), his girlfriend and her son. My dad and his wife, the same day. Continuing the birthdays, Sarge is today, AC was yesterday, Toothpick is the 15th, Wes is the 18th, JJ is the 25th......I know I missed someone, I just can't remember who it is. In the midst of all of this, I am trying to get ready for Christmas, working waaay too many hours, and dealing with T. He has a torn rotator cuff which requires surgery. Soon. So, he is home for a while, with nothing to do. That's a bad thing. The gods only know what he will decide to fill his time with, but I can guarantee it's going to be unexpected. I'm just hoping he doesn't decide to reorganize my books again.
Just for grins, I thought I would include this picture to prove there are advantages to living in the boonies. This is part of my route to work: Pretty nice, huh? I think I am one of the few people who enjoys driving to work. When I compare my commute to my friends' all I can do is smile. I get to speed down empty back roads lined with trees and you guys get wall-to-wall, bumper-to-bumper traffic. It takes me 20 minutes to go 23 miles. Plus, I see things like hawks sitting on power lines and deer meandering across the road. By the way, there is so little traffic that I was able to park my car and stand in the middle of the road to take that picture.

One last thing. For fellow PAN fiends, here's my latest ugly chef sighting. Found this in Hell-mart and then tried to explain why I was giggling my head off to T. The funniest part was realizing that this is a FRENCH chef! Ugly chefs go international:Ok, I think I am as caught up as I can get. Maybe I will be able to find some time to actually post something good, but I am not counting on it.

I like kids, I just don't like parents

Hey you! Yeah, you. The bitch who just walked into the store with two under- six -years -old kids. Did you somehow miss the large, BRIGHT YELLOW, sign that reads "Do Not Leave Your Children Unattended In The Store"? I guess, even though you stood right in front of it, you just couldn't see it. You just told both of your small children to go play with the kids' books while mommy finds herself something to read. Lady, this ain't a daycare. I am not a nanny. You are the parent, those kids are your responsibility. And you sent them to the children's section, right by the door. I found you on the last aisle on the other side of the store. I'm glad none of the local sex offenders shop here. What were you thinking?
To top it all off, when I caught your kids tearing the flaps out of a $20 pop-up book, and brought them to you, you decided to get an attitude with me. Bad idea. I tried to be nice, I really did. I thought it was very polite to tell you that we have an entire aisle of used children's books, and there are even boxes of Legos on that aisle. Your kids are more than welcome to play with the blocks and books on that aisle. Apparently, you didn't want your children anywhere near you, distracting you while you looked for a Danielle Steel you hadn't read. So, finally, I just told you the owner doesn't allow unattended children in the store and parents must accompany children to the children's new book section. And I walked away, before I punched you for being a stupid, rude, negligent jackass. So, you left the store in a huff, without buying anything. Fine with me, I let my boss know about it when she came in. Of course, we both know who you are. It's a small town, and you are memorable for all the wrong reasons. Next time, hire a babysitter, I just sell books. My sympathies are with your kids. I know they are rude and obnoxious. You taught them to be that way.