Despite an epically shitty day, I remained polite throughout. I did not castigate the idiots who refused to acknowledge that their trucks could easily negotiate the road to our house and deliver a laminate countertop.
Laden logging trucks make it on this road, regularly. Your fucking box truck is NOT going to get stuck. Further, I am NOT going to pay thousands of dollars for a granite countertop in a 40+ year old house in the woods. We had 16,000 pounds of shingles delivered here. One 200 lb countertop is not going to ruin your day. But a few grand will alleviate that, right?
This may have been a mercy to him, as he had been dealing with Alzheimer's for some years now.
But we have lost another music titan. He was one of those musicians that did a lot of things that you aren't aware of. He played guitar on Frank Sinatra's recording of "Strangers in the Night", one of my all-time favorites.
In addition to his talent, he was a decent human being. Something that is in rather short supply these days.
Today I went to get some medicine for Echo, and so had the chance to stop by my favorite Chinese take-out place. (GREAT Gen Tso's) The young woman who apparently runs it always remembers what I want, even if it's been a while, and today was no different.
There were three Mexican guys there having lunch. It's a popular place for landscapers and construction people, which by the truck out front they were. Good food, and lots of it for the money.
Anyhow, one of the guys was talking on his phone, in Spanish. He kept looking up at me where I was standing at the counter waiting for my order. If you have met me you'll understand why he might have done that.
I decided right then and there that I am not going to stand idly by while my country embraces blatant racism and xenophobia. I'm sure you've all heard about the racist rants against people speaking Spanish or daring to look Middle-eastern in public.
So I asked the proprietress if they had already paid, and she said no. I told her that I wanted to pay their tab, and she asked me if I knew them. I said no, but they appeared to be from Mexico and that I was not going to put up with the way things are going of late, and she seemed pleased with the thought. On the way out I stopped at their table and told them that not every old white person in America is a bigoted idiot, that they should speak Spanish all they care to, and if anyone gives them shit about it to call me. They seemed to appreciate it.
Obviously, they aren't going to call me. Hopefully, they were pleasantly surprised when they found their check had been paid. Frankly, I expect that it means much more to me than it does to them. I did it for myself, because I cannot abide what is happening here.
Maybe it gave them a bright spot in their day, but I can't recall the last time 35 bucks spent made me feel this good. It's not altruism, it's survival. Maybe the best thing we can do is to demonstrate on an individual basis that there is still such a thing as human decency, even though it is utterly absent in the current administration.
Echo is doing well, she has a day every now and then when she pukes and feels bad for a while, but by and large she's happy and seems to enjoy the hot weather.
I've been using the new chainsaw to clear out wild and squirrel planted tree growth in various places. We also have thorny vines that grow with visible speed and rapidly require a saw to cut them. Today I ordered a pair of chainsaw chaps and bought a new pair of pants and some really big band-aids.
You don't get to shoot a bunch of people because you're pissed off, unloved, unemployed, misunderstood, unjustly fired, justly fired, feeling insignificant, lonely, horny, or just want to be famous.
Stop this shit, all of you.
Suck it up and get on with it like the rest of us have to do, okay?
If you just have to kill someone, keep it to yourself, right?
The Devil's mother is doing well, although we periodically feel obligated to confine her to rein in her exuberance. Okay, she's a hyper bitch, but we love her. ** Edited to remove vague personal rant that came out sounding more depressed than pissed off. L
