February 22, 2013  GUN CONTROL?

Something about this month or this season comes out of the clouds.  Maybe the legislature on Capitol Hill.  Been thinking of a letter to write on gun control which they could think over as they push on those bills.  Difficult for me emotionally and professionally.  Sometimes I think our USA has been conquered by terrorism.  Imagine wanting to own a gun army caliber and force in part because you are afraid our government will require insurrection.  Do these people vote I wonder!  The constitution gave that right as well.  And registration and background checks?  God forbid that they should be a senior asked to take a day each year to relicense as a driver, to prove you have been a native law abiding citizen in this country since the day that you were born.  Also please get your annual medical statement from your doctor to assure your physical/mental capacity to remain a safe driver.  And get that car, that means of destruction on our 80 mph freeways, inspected each year to assure its drive-ability.

My sadness:  A background as a teacher, a mental health therapist, and a governmental employee convinces me that there are reasonable and necessary reasons for guns.  But there are excesses and dangers because of purposes of intended use, whether their use and care and safety precautions are kept, whether mental and physical health of the owners doesn't need to be reviewed periodically.  From my professional perspective I would want to ask the person buying the assault rifle or heavy magazines of bullets why these purchases interest him.  Am I violating his privacy or is he violating mine.  I am pleased that my neighbor is a retired police officer who knows how to use guns.  I don't own one and I have not had one in the house since my only son was killed in a hunting accident at age 22, the fall before he would have graduated from Weber State College.  He was the only grandson of George Francis LaTullipe who served on the Salt Lake City Police Force.  A career officer who saved his own life and that of a fellow officer when he shot and killed a most wanted felon from Canada being taken in for questioning on a minor offense.  So Mark was raised as a toddler that knew his grandfather had guns, wore hostlers, he knew dangers and he was a boy who excelled in many activities including hunting and survival training.  But accidents happen and forgetting to safety the pistol before it is handed to another and is dropped resulted in his immediate fatality.  I was relieved he died quickly from a severed aorta and bled out in minutes.

When my son was 4 and his sister 2, I removed them from a neigbors yard in Roy, Utah.  I had been able to observe them from my own home but we needed to drive to Salt Lake City that morning.  My neighbor was sad to see them leave her kids and requested another little girl to come to play.  Less than a half an hour later we heard there was a shooting in Roy, Utah in which a 7 year old boy carrying his father's pistol out the front door discharged the gun and the bullet ricocheted through the car port killing the new playmate who had just celebrated her 5th birthday a week or so before.  Tragedy follows guns.

As does money and politics.  Our country militarized quickly for WWII.   From peaceful manufacturing to support heavy military support.  The world has changed, as have we, as have companies.  NRA has changed.  Corporate lobbying includes the gun and ammunition industries.  And a sinking economy torn between building a peaceful loving nation and continuing in world leadership and growth presents monumental needs for cautious, thoughtful government.  I have great respect for those women and men who serve and are assuming these tasks.  Yet.....I would not visit a legislator on the floor of the Utah senate or house if I knew he or she was packing.  I always felt armed guards at the Capitol Building were competent and trustworthy in the past.  I would not have become a teacher or have carried a gun into a school room.  I loved my students.  And as a therapist I became aware of patients who used guns, colllected guns and I knew of patients who had shot at therapists.  But As The World Changes is no longer a daytime soap.  We have changed.  Perhaps we have met the enemy and it is us.

Sorry to burden with this lengthy spillout of thoughts and emotions.  I am sure you have your own thoughts as well.  But isn't that what blogs are for?

Thursday in the Mohabi

Early awakening to watch the dawn creep up from the southern hills and light the way for the paper delivery.  Much is in my mind and much remains to be done this day, tomorrow and the next.  The day begins with the local news and the latest crossword puzzle and a cup of coffee.  Then Fritz barks for his breakfast and walk.  One wonders how he will adjust to Marriot suites and hopefully he will remember his command of quiet.  If he does not it will be a short trip to the animal tender so that we do not become evicted and displaced persons.  This is not like any trip we have ever taken and I would much rather be going to Africa if not this summer right now.  Immediately!  My teeth ache and it must be from clenching my jaws as I awake to this upheaval in our abode.  Not that the problem even nears the tremendous tragedies experienced by those whose homes get the blast of tornados, floods and earthquakes or nuclear leaks.  So one knows greater empathy and while my own agony persists I know that this too shall pass away and the house will smile again.  I am luckier that most.

Somehow it is appropriate to count one's blessings shortly before Valentines.  My loved one in residence plugs thru each day with reliable good humor.  Dependable and loving to both me and Fritz.  He has reserved strength previously unknown to me.  Always there to confer about what can be done and how shall we do it.  We manage each day together.  He has been willing to do just about anything to reduce the pressure of the current dilemna.  Movies, shopping, drives, dinner or lunch out.  Honey you just say it and I'm your man.  Yes he is and I am again very lucky.  I promised to make him a new chocolate whoopee cookie with peanut butter frosting.  He said " please don't bother".     Maybe golf balls instead I think.  Whatever.  He is famous for always declaring that there is absolutely nothing he needs or wants.
Lucky me indeed!

Spring has almost sprung.  Almost.  The new tile is going to be set next week.  We will be leaving to stay out of the dust and workmens way and will be in an out while the miracle of rejuvenation proceeds.  We are managing to keep busy although it is somewhat a chore to try to find different wearing apparal to match or not when everything is distributed in sacks, boxes and in the garage.  I cannot say enough about the wonderful insurance company who have thus far been life savers in this tile dilemna.  The cause remains a mystery but the house I believe (I've got to believe!) will emerge as good as new.  Several times lately I have wanted to run away.  Escapism is big on my list.  Unfortunately it mainly ends in chocolate, cookies, ice cream, driving in any direction and shopping.  Movies also rate high.  Hugo, The Artist, Warhorse and I think the Iron Lady this weekend.  Reading my traditional path to somewhere out currently has me in Boston with the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.  Great writing by Goodwin.  I read first about Lincoln and his buddies, then Eleanor and Roosevelt and thus far the length of these books have not discouraged me.  I wonder why schools can't offer such tantalizing material as history texts.  I know I will keep these on my shelf and in my mind now realize and see the U.S. in a broader and more interesting way.  And it fascinates me that we have moved to the point we have in 2012 still having biases about immigrants(only the countries have changed) still financial dilemnas and political pandering.  Ultimately one also sees political power that rises to greatness and at the same time stinks in the sewer, all depending on motive and goal.  These stories make the newspaper events of today seem rather repetetive if not somewhat boring.   Not many statesman who will make great strides these days when personal greed seems primary.  And one wonders following our great and wonderous rescue work during WW11 whether we can ever move from the manufacturing of war materials, and armies, and our role as saviour to the world back to education, leadership, and modelling of a free society of our own.  Ah well that too is a dream to escape to.

Changing, Changing, Changing

A New Year, A New Decor


After 12 years it is time to liven up the place.  So fun to look at ideas on paint, tile, lights etc. and etc.  And a side benefit, we must create room for the work to begin which means sorting through books, pics, misalanea all of our clothes etc.  We can leave and the wonderful insurance will pay.  I am opting for Palm Springs but I don't think that will be covered.  Where or how can we get our collected chairs, tables beds, clothes and on and on into a better place that we can find later.  Not bad if we label everything because at 70+ remembering fuses into where did we lose it, who stole it.  Oh my goodness!  I know some younger people who have just conquered all of these issues.  Our grandchildren.  But too far north to help, and too busy working, baby tending and occasionally having a good time.  But somehow I know they will love the new place.  I will think of visiting dogs, boys and hikers and bikers as we move this abode forward.  Now Ava, the gorgeous gal of our group, will just need some art places, some good movies and books and a little shopping.

My life is changing.  I get zapped on Monday and get a good heart review by a brilliant young Doc who is an expert in eletrical impulses of the body.  Imagine someday the whole system will be mapable on a personal basis taking in your own genes, the changes in protein and the entire cellular mechanism which can be immediately accessed by various techy gadgets which can be carried along as you dash thru life's
challenging activities.  I imagine at some point we will be evaluated for recyclables.  Not just donations of kidney, livers etc. but all the metal we will have inside.  Although bone is now being replaced with new bones and stem cells and cells created in mice and so on and on and on.  I somehow believe the current system of replacing generations with new ones is still the miracle over time.

We  are still managing to be sociable in bridge and poker tables in dining excursions and many phone calls.  Some things continue and some things change and most of all as this new year begins we are forever thankful for the loving from friends and family over the years, for the beauty of the desert and the sun that graces our every morning.  And then......there is the golf game or was.

2012 .......What Does It All Mean?

Sometimes in a day or a month happenings become totally unpredictable and out of control.  I am thinking   that control is only an abstract word in which we delude ourselves.  We make schedules, preparations and honor calendars and clocks as if they were sacred markers containing seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years.  Calendars which go back to the beginning of time as humanoids woke each day and marked the sun.  All is illusion except that the sun, our nearest star, appears each day and then disappears in a flash of brilliant color sometimes.

And movement is instantaneous these days when we can push a key, or a button, hear and see anywhere in the world and those we love playing, laughing or crying.  Robert Burns says in his poetry that the plans of mice and men  "aftimes gang aglay".  So true for this year.  Ed and I are now taking doubtful pleasure in a  seemingly unending redecorating project.  Unseen forces have disrupted the desert dwelling in which we have habited, landscaped and loved.  Of course everything that is man-made has a shelf life.  And we as other living things, animals and plants, afterall must adapt to these shifting sands, hot and cold winds and climate changes.

So much more respect for the Romans and the ruins which continue to force a place in time.  So we as they are connected in our passing.  What enduring marks will we leave in these places where we walk and dwell.  Food for thought occurs when the unexpected appears.  Thank goodness I no longer keep a daytimer and every minute is as flexible as the icalendar which exist in a cloud and synces our days  Or is that "sinks"?

December mornings

These days move as fast as the wind which has been sweeping down the canyon shifting the sand from the sage to our patio and walkways.  Tumultuous times these.  We were, Mr. Ed and I, creative yesterday to take some holiday ideas north for a tiny tree for a tiny apartment.  So we dealt with a number of tiny objects some plastic, some metal, some minute screws and a few cuss words.  Of course we had spent some time at Walgreens and some time earlier at the dog groomers.  Even though Fritz was fluffy and clean and loved he stayed well away from our afternoon craftiness.  O what fun Christmas can be.  And what a surprise when others see and o and ah about our tiny tree.  What a surprise!  Oh what can it Be!

Seriously we are getting ready for the new hip and the northern trip.  I found this wonderful, amazing site which enabled participation and learning in how to do a hip transplant.  This educational site was complete with an instructor, a test, and graphics which moved from procedure to procedure.  Both from the standpoint of the patient and the idea of actually being a participant this was a challenge to complete.  My orthopedic skills were duly noted.  I don't think I could actually do the holding of the scalpel but I certainly could assist.  The technology available to learn new ideas from the internet provides the old brain cells more materials than time.  It is a good thing that I never was one to faint at the sight of blood but I may err toward the vampire because I find it so fascinating to watch.

Well I spent this morning in my six o clock awakening, reviewing the blogs of my sweet, talented and beautiful family.  So I know that yesterday was fun for everyone.  Trees are showing already in many living rooms north and south.  I swear I will not however bake another sugar cookie until the new year.   That is unless somebody else will help eat them.  This year Pilsbury's sliced cookies brought back memories of my own grandmother Nelson who always, always had a jar filled with sugar cookies in the pantry when her grandkids came running into the house.  My brother agreed the taste and the memory are wonderful at this time of the year.  So as Grandma goes north she will need someone to help with a tiny tree, someone to help bake cookies, and someone to eat them.  Do you know that someone?  Ed already has agreed to be a member of the crew.  How about you?

Update, Latedate,Holidaydate,

What else can I say.  I had forgotten my own blog in the interest of reading others and the summer went by.
   
Time waits for no one as the song goes, it passes you by.  It goes on forever like a cloud in the sky.  Never heard that before?  You must be thirtyish.  The time is now fall and snow and rain coming shortly.  Big yard sale here in Kayenta and we probably will miss it.  Getting older one collects many things.  Dusty things.  Things that encourage spiders and a lack of space, drawers, outside storage and on and on. And like barnacles on a whale your body collects things which you would like to trade to someone else. Ah but then you look at your daughter, your grandchildren and great grandchildren and realize everything has a price.  So little to pay for such walking happiness, beauty and fun.

And I like everyone else mourned the passing of Steve Jobs.  So we increased our itoys and spent the past two weeks exploring new iways. Life wirelessly requires new brain work and a little shouting at each other.  We can now print from anywhere, our house, your house, the moon.  One wonders about the cloud and if it will rain on our parade but we keep pushing the buttons.  I have created one masterpiece which will endure.  Read on:

In September early October we visited the balloon festival in Albuquerque New Mexico.  Of course even the iphone got up at 3:30 a.m. to see balloons and take some pics.  First you drive to a bus stop, park your car and along with other excited travelors you get on provided school buses and travel north to the acres of land donated to huge balloons which are transported there by comparatively tiny trailors.  I took many, many, too many photos but there were so many beautiful, glorious colors and balloons of all sizes taking off and firing up.  Somehow I pushed the video button on the camera's side and got a mixture of still shots, video and grass and our own silly noses.  Well video was most appropriate after all and the iphone has a mind of its own I think.  After much struggling I managed to get an 11 minute movie.  Some scenes continue to explore grass & wave about at nothing but I did manage to edit out a lot of wasted space and to get it all on a movie.  I probably will share the movie with everyone like it or not.
I think the accompaning music is x rated but I don't hear well enough to sort it out and I like the beat and the mosaic display.

Maybe I will wait to share this blockbuster movie after Rachel, Lisa, Chris, David or Laurence helps me edit.