Traumas

Well, this has been a rough few days!  My brother-in-law was admitted to the ER last Thursday and died on Monday 7/10.  He’d been dealing with complications from kidney cancer since last September, and the metastasized tumors in his lungs are what finally ended his life.  His wife is, understandably, exhausted and stricken.  He was in his late fifties, so she’s feeling cheated out of decades of life with him.  I’ve been trying to be as much help as I can, and being a teacher on summer break has given me opportunities many people don’t have.  The worst part may be over for him, but now she has to figure out how to make a good life on her own.  Hard times… 

The drought here on the farm continues.  I do water the bushes we spent so much effort and money on this spring, but I feel a bit guilty trying to keep the grass in decent shape.  It’s not a lovely suburban lawn at the best of times, and now it’s pretty ragged.  Crabgrass, alfalfa, pasture grasses – it’s a mixed up mess!    I have decided that even weeds look better mowed, though.  The different grasses grow at different rates and the lawn ends up with random tufts of tall, coarse, green grasses scattered throughout the browning yard.  Looks pretty tacky!  Dad would shake his head…

I’ve been wondering if I should stop listening to the radio.  I get so annoyed at the political garbage that gets spewed out by both sides, but particularly the Republicans.  Neither side seems to realize that when they say “Americans want us to -----------“ they’re generally only speaking for half the polled population!  I  don’t care if my tax dollars fund family planning clinics where abortions are performed!  I don’t want the Affordable Care Act repealed!  I don’t want Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy renewed!  I want more freedoms, not fewer; I want universal health care, not health care only for those who have jobs where it’s provided; I believe that people earning over $250,00 per year can afford a bit more in taxes; I don’t want single parents to have to choose between food and medicine – and on and on!  I believe that I’m representative of at least half the population, so when John  Boehner spouts off about “The American citizen wants us to repeal Obamacare”, I get really annoyed!  What I really want is a return to the idea of working together to find mutually-acceptable solutions to the problems facing the country, from unemployment to the environment to strengthening families to health care.  We need statesmen, not politicians.  Grrrrr……!