In the News

Well here is another item I just couldn't help but share:

Betty Lou Lynn, 83, the actress who played Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show, was robbed at a shopping center in Mount Airy, NC., the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the town that inspired the show's idyllic Mayberry setting.


(note: Is nothing sacred?)

You Want to get Mad

Here is something that one of my friends, friends, friend has posted on Facebook. Somehow it appeared on my wall...don't ask me what any of that means, I still don't understand Facebook, but I am there.

Here, read this while I pray that we all become compassionate toward each other sometime soon:

YOU WANT TO GET MAD? We had eight years of Bush and Cheney, but now you get mad! You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President. You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy. You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got ousted. You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.. You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war. You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq. You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people. You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans. You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden. You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed. You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown. You didn’t get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich. You didn’t get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars were redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage which cost over 20 percent more for basically the same services that Medicare provides. You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark, and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans… oh hell no. AND NOW YOU’RE MAD !

By: Christian Struzan

Woody has a friend

So some of you have been asking for updated pictures of Woody. Here he is siting on top of his old cage, looking at himself and singing. His favorite stuffed toy approaches to give him a well deserved noggin'rub and he sure likes it!

Gotta Love the Coca-Cola Company

Watch this video and put a smile on your face!

Got Cat Hair?

I just stumbled onto this product...it is fantastic. I know, I know...it's been around for a year or more. What can I say? I'm old and slow.
If you've got a cat..or dog...you NEED this!




Now...the only question is: Does it work on bird droppings?

Youth Group Looking for Nonwhite Mentors

That was the title of a news article in today's paper. I thought, wow, that sounds an awful lot like a group that I was working with several years ago when I was on the "light side" of my fifties. I had recently become widowed and thought I might do myself and some younger folks some good if I signed up for becoming a mentor. The plan was to go through a six week training course with a bunch of like-minded people...men (young and old) women (young and old) and both of all colors and backgrounds.

See we all just wanted to really help some young people by being there and caring when no one else would. So how hard could that be? Harder than you might think, I came to find out.

Anyway, I took the course and finished it; then waited patiently for my mentor assignment.

Then, we were all discovering that what the organization really wanted was black males to mentor for very long list of fatherless black boys. They weren't so much interested in females (old or young) black was okay though. I thought to myself, well, okay. Whatever they think they need they can wait for it; if it doesn't come, I'll be here to provide some mentoring if called upon.

After a while, they called me to mentor a 15 year old Caucasian girl. It seems her mother had severe personal problems and the child was living with her grandparents. The story was she needed someone to talk to and help her stay on the "high road". I thought, this should be duck soup for me. I had a lot of similarities when I was her age and really could relate to her situation. It was never my plan to share my history with her, but knowing that I had a personal history to draw from made it easy for me to willingly accept the challenge.

We met and had lunch. We talked and went for a ride. She shared some of her dreams and current wants (there seems no end to what a 15 year old can dream about!) Anyway, I thought we were making great progress. She was more relaxed each time we met; she shared more and more. She even told me some pretty scary stuff and she swore me to secrecy...of course, that's all part of the gig. It was getting to where some of the stuff had me scratching my head though...

Then about two months into the program, I got a call from the program director. I was not to see the child anymore. No there is no problem, no I did nothing wrong. No, the grandparents think I am a wonderful person. It's just that I was too old. Get it? I was too old!

I guess I WAS too old. I thought we were talking about a living caring human being extending themselves to someone who had NO ONE!!!! That was not the case...she had two someones...and what she was looking for was someone to encourage her belligerent behaviour...someone younger who knows how to live on the wild side and not be responsible for their own behaviour. Someone who perhaps could come with a couple of new ways to live on the edge.

Well, she was right that wasn't me.

As for the news article, I guess they want to stay in their own little world too. It is a shame. I thought love was blind to color and age but apparently not.

Losing a Friend

LOSING A FRIEND:

THIS IS A VERY TOUCHING STORY ABOUT LIFE & DEATH,

AND THE FRIENDS THAT WE HAVE.

IT'S CERTAIN TO STIR UP YOUR HEART, TOUCH YOUR SOUL.



I'M STILL CHOKED UP OVER IT!






Thanks go to Melissa for this one!

I'll get back to entering some of my recent activities soon...I promise!