Process as a Verb

I detest the use of the word process as a verb.  Talking heads, pundits and so called experts speak at length about America "processing this tragedy".  I am tired of this.  Osmosis a a process, photosynthesis is a process, turning waters into steam is a process.   

How do we "process" a young white man filled with fear and hatred of Black people walking into a supermarket and shooting and killing folks browsing thru the produce aisles and chatting with their neighbors?  Or another kid that two days after his 18th birthday buys 2 AR15 rifles and marches into a local elementary school and kills small children and their teachers? 

Anger does not come close the feelings I have on these two recent incidents.  Beto O'Rourke had it right when he told the Texas governor "IT'S ON YOU! at a press conference.  

All the thoughts and prayers have solved nothing, nothing, in this problem.  These empty and rehearsed words do little to lessen the pain of parents and families that are suffering at the loss. 

For the first time in a while, I have found myself steering away from watching the news.  The talking heads are developing nuanced dialogues about the shooters, the motives, did they leave any clues?  We cut to the national correspondents now on scene to discuss the tragedy with the locals.  It's all the same, same, same.  The two opposing sides of the issues are discussed by intellectual titans and they are always thanked for being there.  There is stirring music to be played with a montage of the victims living their lives.  

Afterward, nothing changes.  We go back to discussing sports or the latest divorce proceedings and what is in fashion and of course the detailed weather.  In two weeks for the rest of us it will be a footnote, maybe story 3 or 4 on the newscast.  

That's it.

 

Random Comments

It's a Shannon day today.  We've already watched the compulsory B and the B  with a dose of Looney Toons and now on Lion King.  Know all the dialogue and and all the songs.  Still love it when Whoopi Goldberg calls one of her partners "Cactus Butt".  This is her in all her glory listening to music and watching.  

We went for a quick walk this morning beating the cloud bursts by only minutes.  She was happy anyway.  

The postmortem on my dental surgery is making progress.  Still in some discomfort but getting better.  However, really don't want to do this again.  

Near Katey's apartment in Troy they are constructing a new subdivision called Eden Gardens.  Think of that moniker.  It sounds like a place to be interred not to reside.  Anyway,  at this point the site is piles of dirt and som large concrete tubes.  As I drive by, I cannot believe all this debris will soon be streets with houses on them.  When it comes things like this I really have no vision.  

Got my high mileage haircut yesterday.  Good for the summer, no combing or brushing required.  Was convinced to keep my mustache by friend Omar at the barbershop.  He said it made me look formidable instead of just a nice guy.  Don't know.

Always trying to find the best foods to consume to keep my glucose numbers in line.  Yesterday I tried whole wheat  pasta.  The flavor is nearly the same but it needs to cook longer by a couple of minutes.  Woke this morning to find sugars were not elevated.  This may be another answer for me.  
Bought a new bed for the second bedroom.  It will work better for Shannon and our little visitors.  Had to do some adjusting and repositioning  but worked out. The morning dismount worked without a hitch.  

not much else to report

catch the sun if you can

stay safe

all for now

Bloodless

Well, it appears that my blood donation days are completed.  They had no success getting my veins for a second time at the latest drive I attended yesterday.  I am saddened by this turn of events.  After 26 donations and over 3 gallons, I am through.  Don't know the answers here, but it is what it is.

The Abbott Sturgis plant is soon to open to provide more baby formula.  This is good but the startup will take up to 12 weeks to get the products to store shelves. What happens in the interim?

Spoke with my cousin Maria  in Melbourne Australia via Messenger this morning and we are finally working on combining our family trees from both sides of the Atlantic. This will be a daunting task for me locating all the generations that preceded mine and the offspring of current relatives. She is over her Covid bout and back in action.  Her husband Zoltan is still struggling with his.  I wish them both well.  Its still amazing to me that we can have a line of communication between us at this distance.

They have been having management meetings and parties at the Penitentiary for the last two weeks.  All the participants treat the residents like they are invisible with little acknowledgment or conversation.  They have excluded us from the common areas we pay rent for with their private events.  They had a cookout on our veranda yesterday  and we were allowed to get the leftover hot dogs from the refrigerator in the community kitchen.  Dirty cooking utensils were left in the sink.  Oh, well the old people will clean up after them. 

Saw wonderful friend Janine yesterday with her dog Pippa walking around the neighborhood, with ice cream afterward.  One of the good things about retirement is that you can have ice cream whenever you want.

Lot of kid activities in the upcoming days.  Eli and Marie, Shannon on the weekend and the little guys on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Am praying  for good weather so we can get the out and running.  This really helps at bedtime.

Oral surgery coming up for me tomorrow, its really no fun but necessary.  

supposed to be a rainy day today

all for now

stay safe

Food Shortage

Baby Formula...

There is no time for a Senate Select Committee to open a discussion on the shortages, lasting for weeks or months.  Babies need food, NOW!. Mothers are stressing out driving to multiple retailers on the hunt for food for their babies.  Lots of f*cking news stories about their frustration and running all over town.  Biden and his team are offering a website with tips on finding this needed food.  This is one time he has abjectly failed to help the nation.  This is a national crisis and it has become a mere footnote on the news.  All the while the news readers are flapping their gums, babies are looking to be fed.   The National Defense Act was enacted to authorize the manufacture and or purchase of supplies for protecting against Covid.  Included in which was N95 respirators and gloves.  Why cannot this be considered a similar crisis?  Has Congress moved on this subject?  Have the manufactures had nothing to say?  What in fact is the problem, supply chain? or a shortage of raw materials? or stuck on ships at sea? Thus far, only one company Perrigo says that the shortages will extend to the end of the year.  This is simply unacceptable.  The pro-choice protestors, as justified as they may be,  should look this problem in the face as well as the conditions are more immediate.  

One question, have you ever listened to a hungry baby?  It is a cry that torments the soul.

This whole circumstance is a complete outrage

that's it

all for now

stay safe

 

Morning has broken

 

Trying to see the light of the new day.  Everyday is a new beginning for me.  Trying to be positive and have a fresh outlook on my world.  Outside the birdies are singing and the morning sun is brightening the sky.  Going to PF this morning and taking care of Apollo.  He is the one breathing creature that is always thrilled to see me.  He yelps with joy as I enter the room.  I really feel for people that are dragging themselves thru life. There are many here that completely live in the past seeing no future other than fear of Covid, anticipating their next meals-on-wheels lunch, never leaving their dwellings to feel the wind and the sun on their faces. 

Nothing really to report about today.  Kids are well, and I am thinking about the stuff I have to go thru in the next couple of weeks.  I hate dealing with the medical profession because the see my as an old man with growing limitations.  Soon will see my primary care physician for my annual physical.  While I am not looking forward to my results,  I will accept them and reinvent myself yet again in the interest of moving forward.

Strangely in a good mood today.  Don't know why, had a definite deficit in sleep last evening.  However growing increasingly disgusted with politics, politicians and our so called leaders pushing us backward, eliminating rights and privileges held dear by many.  Screaming about inflation and the price of gas will not make either go down.  The corporations that seem to own us are making record profits and their owners are building their piles of money. With guys like Musk and Bezos, I have to ask the question,  how much do you need? More spaceships and bigger yachts seems to be their latest acquisitions. 

I am done bitching

but still in a good mood

all for now

stay safe

  

Pleasant market

Near where we used to reside on Millard St. in Royal Oak lies a small market called Oasis Gourmet Cuisine, providing prepared Mediterranean cuisine as well as staple good used in this style of cooking.  It is run by a husband and wife team of certain years.  The store has been in this location for over thirty years, very low key probably earning most of their living from supplying restaurants and like emporiums.  They make a wonderful Chicken Shawarma sandwich that I went in for lunch today.  Never have I been greeted and appreciated like this place.  You would have thought I was buying food for a wedding, but alas, only a 6 buck sandwich.  I felt like I was buying from an Aunt and Uncle.  If you are in the area, find this place.

Sweating taking Harry for a brief walk this afternoon and remembering that about 3 weeks ago, I was freezing with the gale force wind blowing.  I think spring was about 3 days in 2022.  Oh well, that's Michigan.

Was nearly clobbered by a lady backing out next to me at the middle school this morning.  I tooted but had to remember how, since I rarely us the horn.  I am usually yelling thru the closed window which makes no since.

My darling Katey saved some baby squirrels whose tails were tangled in a chain link fence at her apartment yesterday.  Put on protective gloves and went to work getting the tails un twisted.  Set them free and back to their mama.  Bravo daughter!

Back at PF now.  Can get all the machines in about 35 minutes.  Its amazing the muscle groups you don't use, only to discover your lack of strength in those areas.  I have to abandon my most favorite food, pizza.  All the carbs drive up my numbers consistently.  It has become my favorite cheapo lunch on my way to take care of Apollo.  Need to find a better alternative that will make me happy as a food driven person.

Marie's soccer team won their first game last night.  She did a yeoman's job playing goalkeeper in the first half.  No timid or polite girl in sight.  I think this will be the position for her.  She barks out the name of her intended receiver when she throws out of the box and can anticipate what is coming at her.  Her inner Aunt Katey is coming out.

Last day for kids this week.  Giving blood next Tuesday.  Hopefully will have a more skilled blood drawer.  

Enjoy the beautiful weather

all for now

stay safe

 

Mom's 2022

Blooms at the penitentiary for Mothers Day.  Happy Moms day to all the mothers out there including my lovely wife, Dorothy and Marie our mothers, Marie and Mary our grand mothers.  Happy Moms day to the pet moms, Kathy and Janine.  I miss and think about Dorothy everyday. And I miss my mother in law, Marie even though she made me crazy at times.  She loved Walmart and my company on our frequent visits.  Happy day to my sister Joan and Kelly her daughter.  Also happy day to Kelly, Jon's wife.  Thank you for the wonderful boys visit this past weekend.  I wish a happy day to Carla, Eli and Marie's terrific mom.  

Being a mom is probably the hardest job in the world.  Most men including me couldn't accomplish it.  They are queens of multitasking a skill I never mastered.  They cook, clean, launder, wipe away tears and bottoms and find the patience to carry on with little sleep and a few dribs and drabs of nourishment eating what's left on the kids plates.  I still have some of my moms cooking tools that I treasure and use every day thinking about her as I use them.  

all for now

enjoy this sunny day

stay safe
 

SCOTUS

In 1973, nearly 50 years ago, the Supreme Court decided that the federal government would protect the rights of women to terminate pregnancies at their choosing.  This has been the most controversial decision of the high  court in the modern history of our Republic.  Since its inception, this has been the most contentious issue our country has ever seen.  It has divided our citizens and there is no available middle ground on this argument.  It is discussed only with agreeing participants.   This has gone on for the last 50 years with no end in sight.  

With the leak of a draft document, it appears that this law is about to be overturned to the joy of some and the horrors of those who see it as a right to choice, that will soon be removed.  In my opinion, men have no right to decide what goes on with or into women's bodies.  If the high court was only populated by women,  then for me, whatever argument or decision that was made would hold water.  But that is not the case. 

Further, if you believe in the right to life, you cannot also hold with the justice of the death penalty.  if both opinions are held simultaneously, you are guilty of hypocrisy.  is all life sacred? When the babies are saved and disabled or neglected, who is going to take care of them?  Protesters can pat themselves on the back for their good deed, go to church and are done with it.  Where is the personal, yes personal commitment?

There is another argument that a woman is the ruler of her sovereign body.  Men have absolute rule over their bodies.  If and when a seed is planted,  is her body no longer her own?  Think about that for a moment.  Remove religious teachings  from the scope.  Men cannot be forced to get a vasectomy by the government if they impregnate too many females and don't take care of their progeny.  

I am a bundle of Cognitive Dissonance  over this topic (read your BF Skinner). I think many Americans struggle with it as well even if it is not discussed.  I don't believe that any woman enters into a decision to terminate a pregnancy lightly. There is always great emotional pain.

Further, society does a poor job of caring for the invisible disabled adults in our midst.  They too are citizens with all the rights and privileges afforded to all citizens.  And yet, as they grow older and less pleasing to the eye,  are housed in group homes and other places to be dealt with until their demise.  Our dear Shanon lives with housemates that are adult castoffs, yes societal cast offs. They never make the news and they have no real voice. 

All my opinions

all for now

stay safe

The Weekend

Lots to comment on today.  This past weekend was an active one with a great visit from our littles from Grand Rapids, Paxton and Everett.  After their morning arrival on Sunday, we went to Berkley's newest business, a transplant from Clawson, Flipside Records. They put on a kid friendly block party in their parking lot with games giveaways and a bluegrass band playing the whole event.  This is a rather unique store selling and buying records with a large collection of other media items with games too.  Jon and Andrew were frequent shoppers in the former location.
 

The boys had a swell time at the place,  until a guy dressed as a StormTrooper showed up.  Paxton was having none of the scary guy and we left. This place is a walkable location for their short legs.

Everett is becoming a real language master as he is 3 now speaking in sentences and asking lots of questions.  There is an occasional interest in the potty for him as well.  We learned with all of them that they will move ahead when they are ready.    Went to the zoo on Mon day where the penguins, the reptiles and the amphibians were a big hit.

Had a successful lunch at National Coney Island after the zoo and mr picky, Everett ate everything.  After a quick trip home, mom picked them up for the trip home

Shannon's 34th birthday was Monday and we had a small celebration with cake and Mac n cheese, her favorite.  As you can see from the photo, she is as happy as ever.  

This photo of our lovely office administrator Kathy, done up as Princess Leia saying may the fourth be with you on May 4th. She does a wonderful job dealing with our residents showing patience and empathy.

So had to pick up Eli and Marie from their mom's apartment in Troy yesterday.  Kind of a long hike from there to Southfield.  Needed to buy a few grocery items.  Eli tells me that Meijer is the only logical choice.  We find the store near their home.  He and Marie pick out their stuff and proceed to the self checkout.  He scans the items, I pay and we are done.  The whole process takes about 15 minutes.  I did nothing, really nothing, these two know exactly where and what to do.  At 11 and 12,  I think this is impressive. He even knew a better way home, turn by turn.  Again really impressed.

I have a lot to say on the SCOTUS upcoming decision, but am still composing my thoughts, so next posting.

all for now

stay safe

A rainy night

It's the aftermath of a rainy night here at the Penitentiary.   Opened up the sliding glass door to the balcony so I could feel the air and hear the birdies singing their morning songs.  I really like those sounds and associate them with calm.  

Went to a dermatologist this past week.  At 72, have never been and it was suggested that I go to get myself checked out for spots I have which turned out to be not a matter of concern. Whenever you go to a new physician for the first time actually looking for trouble you feel some apprehension.  As I am sitting there in my underwear covered by a paper gown I am listening to a lady in the next room going thru some kind of treatment speaking of her discomfort, I am ready to put my pants on and leave.  I am sweating under my gown asking myself, "what are you doing here anyway, you're not sick?" But I stay.  He shows up with a female assistant and a female training PA,(with me in my underwear) introduces himself  and looks me over finding  this little bump on my face, does a biopsy and I am out of there.

Had Shannon for an overnite Friday-Saturday.  Was nice enough to take her one a short walk around the neighborhood.  Still dealing with wheelchair issues.  The manufacturers have sought to save money by making the product less durable ie. the foot platforms break as they are unsupported plastic.  What a surprise.

 

Grandson Elijah has become quite a bowler.  He got a trophy recently for being 154 pins over average.  He absolutely loves the sport and Poppy is very proud of him.  The 60 year old clarinet from my 6th grade band days has now been restored and will be going to him to start on this month.  

His sister Marie was invited to play goal keeper at yesterdays game.  It was her first time stepping into the net.  Most kids are timid and afraid of the ball.  She took to it right away, no fear, and good at anticipation and good hands.  The coach was really impressed and gave her many atta-girls.  She seems to have a future in this position.

We have the littles for the next two days arriving this morning.  Hoping for decent days weather wise.  The newest business to come to our little town is a transplant from Clawson,  Flipside Records.  The are having a grand opening block party in their parking lot today and with a little weather luck, we will take the boys to check it out.  

Shannon's 34th birthday is tomorrow.  It's hard to believe.

all for now

stay safe