Be Free

We are a proud people. We do have
expectations. We get tired of the rat race
and the riff-raff. Ms POA sent me another one of those group hug e-mails today. We have to choose the response carefully. We have to strive to keep balance in my life. We have raw emotions that have been suppressed while I struggle with all this. We can choose to allow her to live the lie. We can choose not to engage or to react. We can delight in knowing that we will not respond. We can hold our breath and wait. We can wait for the "cows to come home" or until we choose to have a different response to any of this. We can admit that we are weary and frustrated. We can embrace the weariness. We can overcome this as easily as we have overcome troubled times in the past. We can laugh at adversity. We can be free. We must be free.

Spring Break

Blah Blah Blah...talking heads and such. i think i finally understand how some of our rock n roll bands were named. some history. when i was a kid we were prohibited from listening to secular music (or so i thought) . my sisters listened to Motown and collected 45s. there was no dancing allowed either. i do not know why i recall this so vividly. maybe all the PK stuff just rattles around in your head forever. i look back on all this and i am grateful. knowing what i know now, i can't help but express my appreciation for what i thought were privations. but that was then in a time in a far away galaxie, many light years ago. the kids of the sixties raised the Gen X crowd who are actually old enough now to have their own kids. we baby boomers raised a generation of kids who were not deprived of anything. they have computers and stereos and personal stereos and iPods and X-box and PSII and PSP and PS3 and so on and so....on. Maybe we gave them to excess...what will they give the world in return? who will be their Bobby Seale, Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X? U2 and Bono; Elton John; Charles Barkley and Madonna and Lizzie McGuire or will it be Howard Stern and that woman who the press seems to be still fawning over weeks after her death. Anna Nicole Smith was a predatory golddigger then but now is a cause celebre. what will be my internet legacy? rapier wit and ee cummings style of writing? an occasional simple and complete thought? who knows? wanting got the world to where we are today? maybe it is time for us to focus on NEEDING for a spell.

Long Day

today was one of those days. appeared in court with a mom who has a history of abandonment with her kids; two days ago she let her 1.5 year old wander out of the transitional housing complex gate. she ignored her child out there until the parenting worker showed and grabbed her son's hand. but the judge is ready for her to have unsupervised visitation as soon as possible. i am to provide the judge with additional information as to why she should not have supervised visitation.

relative caring for her 16 year old brother is broke and needs to get an advance so she can catch up on her rent...have to do something about that.

i have to testify next week at a certification hearing.
w
there is really just too much going on right now. i am weary.

PK

being a PK carries special privileges. everyone knows you and people are always watching you. you have to learn what it means to be in the public eye. people will remember you even after they have faded from your memories. Daddy has been here in the area for half his life. i have seen a parade of people come and go through the hospital room. lots of visitors and well wishers. we give each other a knowing glance. the faces look distantly familiar and now that some of their children are adults i can no longer easily place them in time and space. we knowingly nod an acknowledgment of relationship and connection through the pastor - Rev, as he is affectionately called. who else will become a fading memory? the longer i am out of contact with the sister that i knew, the less real she will become. will they come to my brother's wedding? will they bring my mother? or will they personalize all this and deny her the chance to meet her new DIL? the attorney says that Ms POA is angry because of we chose to appeal the BS order that came from that backasswards GA courtroom. what did she think would happen? is she simply waiting for us to roll over and expose our vulnerable undersides? she drew first blood. now we have graciously turned the other cheek as well. it is clobbering time now. but not with anger. reason and peaceful resistance. the truth will prevail. given time and our substantial PK training. i know how to keep a low but watchful profile. does she?

Going Home

this is going to be a frequently repeated theme for me. i have in many places....all of them have been home to me at one time or another. yesterday while i was driving to the VA to see my Dad, i had time to reflect on many of the places i have lived and some i could have lived in, if i had chosen to. the little hamlet my father has lived in now for half his life feels like a dying town. i drove down to see Lake Michigan and was truly disappointed. it was dirty and the beautiful park i remember as a child was no longer there. maybe i have romanticized some of it, but a drive along Greenbay Rd and Sheridan road confirmed that this was a magical place. so how does a town like North Chicago die? what memories of childhood do you have in a special place?

my list looks like this:

1317 LaPaloma was beautiful place. then 1829 Greenfield had magic....i think it still has a bit of that since i had to drive past there today. my mother's little house in Evanton is always going to retain the magic. i have not found a place in the Twin Cities yet that fits the bill...no place has ever quite felt like home. gotta run now and will finish these thoughts later.

New Blood

sometimes you finish doing something that was a short term assignment in your life. the feeling of that accomplishment can be a trap that can keep you from growing. i may have reached that point in my work and personal lives. some of the joy i used to feel at doing my job just is not there anymore. i want to be able to laugh at the end of my day...and perhaps have something left to give to those who need me. instead i feel like a wet noodle. i feel like i am being crushed in a giant water mill. the client just push and parry and thrust. i am always avoiding contact (metaphysically as well). i am even sometimes awash in the spray of the malaise of some many lives that i do not know where i am. today is one of those days. the weariness of constant hypervigilance and awareness takes a massive toll on my soul. each TPR is a chink in my battle scarred armour. i tire of the verbal gymnastics and mental pole vaulting that is required to stay supple and imaginative. kids need to be protected, but i do not think it is from the parents as much as it is from an inept system. too many people who do not know human development who are in decision-making authority. too many attorneys and dispositional advisors and guardians and workers all looking at the elephants sitting in their very midst. Obi Wan, you are our only hope now!

Today

i thought about doing many things. i called the county attorney in that other place to talk about the teen who is being certified to stand trial as an adult for two attempted murders in a convenience store holdup. i went to the prison today and talked with a dad who has been incarcerated for most of his son's life. he thinks that he is ready to parent now. i rushed home from work and fried some fish up and baked up some skillet fries and tator tots, pan-fried some corn and steamed some broccoli. it was a nice dinner. hardly anyone ate. and i was quite hungry myself.

my dad is still in he hospital...there is still something about his bleeding that we do not know. he has had blood transfusions, and is still bleeding. but the family patriarch is sharp enough to tell me that he does not want Ms POA to know where he is right now. i am stunned that the wisest woman in the world is not able to put this all together. she is allegedly making phone calls to siblings to glean whatever "intel" she can. so i guess we just have to see what her next move is.

Falling

Father, originally uploaded by unohuu.

my dad has been around forever. he is a big old brute of an old style kind of man. no mincing words for him. he tells it as he sees it. that may not bode well for many PC kind of folks. the kinds of things this old guy rails against would make the RNC proud. but he is better than that. he really cares; it is not for political gain or prestige. he has these certain beliefs. they are beliefs born of racism and the Great Depression. they are beliefs born of Jim Crow and chicken dinners and struggling to feed a growing family. this man served in one of America's most forgotten wars - Korea. We did not call this a war. it was a conflict. Click Here . he came home with shrapnel in his hide and a nation full of hatred. just before the Civil Rights movement took a serious turn. imagine fighting for freedom for others and having to be a second class citizen in your own country. imagine being OK to serve, but not to be served. imagine what it meant for those soldiers who gave their lives there and had to come home to the shame of Jim Crow and Arkansas and Alabama and Rednecks with guns.

i simply listen now when my Daddy talks about his past. respect for his sacrifices is one small way of demonstrating honor. too bad it is not genetic. of all the times i have seen my Daddy angry, i have seldom seen the hurt that he stifles when he thinks about what is going on with our mother. they have been divorced now for more than thirty years, but there is still a bond. he must cry when he thinks that my sister, Ms POA, would so casually and maliciously attempt to strip my mother of her long fought after and treasured dignity. i guess she does not know that dignity can't be purchased or stolen. it can only be relinquished. guess she missed all that as part of the Civil Rights movement. maybe they had to lobotomize her when she was in law school so that she could no longer distinguish between right and wrong. yes, there are some absolutes. i know, my Daddy told me so and i believe him.

Coming Home

The President and Cabinet responses to the problems at military hospitals is coming right home. I got a late night phone call regarding my dad, the vet, you know. He was rushed to the ER yesterday. I relied on "intel" from my brother and sister yesterday, but called the VA direct this morning. It started with simple communication with the "0" as I tried to find what room he was in. It was like calling to Bangalor to get a simple question answered about my water bill. It was as if they could not understand me. "I am calling to find out how my father is doing. His name is L____ L________. No, L@@@*& is his surname."
"I am sorry sir, I will transfer you to the nurses station. There is no phone in his room."
"ICU, I am calling to ask about the condition of my father, whose name is ***&^ ((*&^. See that gibberish I just wrote down there. It is more intelligible than the immediate response I received from ICU. Finally someone with a thick subcontinent accent got on the line. We were able to communicate then. I am used to talking with them when I have a question about my computer or credit card. Now we are getting somewhere. But when did the US Military start to outsource jobs and communications?

Maybe if the politicians had to have their medical care done there. Maybe if the politicians actually had to experience what normal people do at hospitals, instead of getting the RED CARPET treatment that they do. Socialized medicine would be just around the corner. The haves really do have it. You know when the hospitals and clinics are looking at the two-tier system. Plebian vs Partrician services. What a laugh? How many of those ding dongs actually might have experienced combat. Stop and think about it for a minute. They wine and dine with lobbyists, get outrageous per diems and have pensions after a brief stint "serving" their country. Feels like more pork barrell politics all over again. The haves get to HAVE more and the rest of us should simply be grateful that we have something left over when they are done DOING it to us.

So where does my sister fit into this? I do not know, but I sure will find a link between her and the greedy. So my quandry now is to decide if I want to tell the forgotten two about what is going on. WWDD? WITRTTD? I can sleep on it a couple of days. I am pretty sure that I can't make that move before I talk with my dad. Who knows what evil lurks in the briefcase of Ms POA and her cronies? Why she might even produce a POA for the Rev. Who knows from whence she might have obtained it?

Complainer

some people would complain about an 80F day with a gentle sea breeze. they could easily find something wrong with that kind of beautiful day. some could complain that they did not win enough money in the lottery or at the track. some could simply find fault with any small thing. i am not sure that many are able to express simple gratitude for anything in life. why do we so easily focus on what we do not have, and fail to acknowledge what we do have?


i know what i can do here. i only have to reinforce the kind of behaviors i think are appropriate. i think that might have some small impact. i want to be around life-giving and life-rewarding people versus energy-sucking kinds of people. we all know them. they bring the clouds with them when they come. they are the misery that likes company. they are the nothing is ever quite good enough people in your life. you know them, and you know what you feel like when you have been exposed to them for too long. take a deep breath now. exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale. breathe and breathe again. be thankful for the breath that you are able to take in. each little miracle is a conglomeration of many blessings all bestowed at once. now waltz on into your kitchen or your coffee shop and start your day. remember to be thankful to someone or for something at least once today.

Once in a Lifetime

some of you know what i do. for the rest, i just want you to know that i recently had an experience that is so unlike my everyday job that i just have to share it. this was a once in a lifetime happy experience that i was fortunate enough to be part of. these kids needed a home and needed one fast. it involved some hard truth and gentle persuasion. they are now home with their Dad. i was lucky enough to see what love in ACTION really looks like. from 4 to eight over night. from 3 and 1 to 4 and 4. from his and ours to all of ours. see we (the agency i work for) was simply determined that these 4 kids had to stay together. they had two separate and disparate fathers...one living here with me and one in sunny CA. if you can imagine telling these kids that they were likely to go to CA and live there with their dad, and then hearing how they could not bear to leave their mother. patience prevailed though and Dad started a regular telephone campaign. the idea of shedding a winter jacket for once and all and the allure of 85F soon won them over. i saw smiles and laughter and relaxation and hope for a better tomorrow. OK, enough said. keep wishing this family peace and togetherness.

Sunny CA

from 50F yesterday to possible 90+ today. the flight was hard. kids got bored easily and we were not sitting close enough to each other to keep them entertained. easily through Phoenix except the delay. they rushed us onto the plane even though we were on the same airline. puffing and huffing as Dad and I rushed three youngsters and his teenage son through the airport. the girls were even a bit frightened because they had been "scared" by their brother. everything worked out OK in the end. his wife and SIL met us at the airport and they took the mountain of bags and left. i found my rental and worked my way onto the freeway to my motel. instant traffic jam....yes it was 9:00 p.m. and they were merging three lanes into one so that we could exit freeway and circle around the overpass and back onto the freeway. i can only imagine what a mess that is during the day.

fast free wireless does not work in my room, but i found a Starbucks and logged on anyway. things just do not work here as they should. we have the smarts and the infrastructure, but everybody is so eager to squeeze every possible penny of profit on the short term totally ignoring the possible long term gain and loyalty of customers. has to be a better way.

thinking about what to do here today. could drive to SD to see my "other" SIL. my brother's ex did not bother to call me back. may try her one more time before i leave, but i guess she is one of our strange family members. would just be nice to see my nephew and to see KL anyway. i am not even sure how long it has been. well on with my life anyway. SD is probably too far to drive even though i have a couple days. off to google maps. maybe more later.

I Like Dreaming

I Like Dreaming, originally uploaded by unohuu.

about freedom and peace and quiet. i like dreaming that wars have ended and people have learned to get along with each other or simply choose some other set of people. there are more than six billion of us. more than enough here to find a likely match. i like dreaming that corporation realize that equality goes a long way towards a positive work ethic. i dream that people no longer have to stand on the corner with a cardboard sign begging other people for food or clothing or dry warm place to sleep. i dream that there is no more starvation in the world. that we have eliminated famine and disease. can you imagine this place? you simply have to try. if we can begin to imagine a world without war, we will find a way to stop killing each other. if we can imagine a world where everyone has enough to eat, we can begin to create the world. if we can begin to imagine that all people have merit, simply by virtue of birth, we can eliminate hatreds and so many of the -isms. this child is the child we will be changing the world for. she deserves all that we have learned and valued. she may be the next Ghandi or maybe the next brilliant scientist or the person who achieves the next most important thing in medicine or computers or ...she is in my Sunday School class. Joy to the World!

What's in Your Wallet?

A couple of ATM card receipts, another for gas at the Shell station. One more for groceries at the grocery store near my house. That is simply what one might be able to see. In addition I carry a dose of hope and promise for the future; some forgiveness; a bit of tenderness that is well worn; a receipt for thankfullness that I trade back and forth with some of my friends and a business card for my own inspiration. There is a credit card and the ATM/checking card, a license and some what not kind of things. no photos of the wife and kids. no telephone numbers, no addresses of any kind. have to protect the loved ones as much as i can. can't be certain that my mostly docile clients will not have a fit of umbrage and rage. that would not do to have them stalking or harassing my family. paranoid...you bet your !@# i am.

Bear With Me

while i talk with you about a strange kind of conspiracy theory. this one involves attorneys and judges and such. i can't prove any of this but i can't make sense of it any other way. from the very beginning i have had the feeling that the deck was stacked against us. i am pretty sure that Ms POA did not know who was involved in this thing that she called a kidnapping, yet she managed to have my sister arrested and incarcerated for a long weekend. Columbus Day weekend if i recall correctly. then the junk started coming at us so fast that we barely were able to come up for a breath of fresh air before some new kind of insanity happened. is it possible that the corrupt little legal system in GA has a Code of Silence? tell me why else a judge would risk his career and status in the community. what does Ms POA have on this nut? is there some meaty scandal waiting to be uncovered. Mothergate 2006. imagine that. then just a few days ago, my sister tells me that Ms POA is driving a new vehicle. something large and flamboyant. something flashy and certainly environmentally a disaster, no doubt. then we manage to have an inept attorney who could not see his way out of a clear plastic grocery bag. even my brother could have put together a better defense than this attorney...we will have to pay him though.

could the legal profession be so unethical that they would rally around each other, even if one were doing something they all new was wrong. or perhaps it is because they lack moral compass and guidance. since each argument is about proving one's case, there is no relativity between what is right or wrong. simply a matter of what one is able to prove. shoot them all...maybe but then some other slime would crawl to the top of the scum heap to take their place. how about we just expect them to be decent. how about we search really deep within ourselves and get the solutions to the problems? that might mean apologies or compromise.

so here we have a woman who has medical bills taller than the Empire State Building and a recently purchased home and now a new vehicle. she must be one helluva lawyer. even so, i am certainly glad that i have never taken her counsel on anything.

waiting for the next shoe to fall.

Surprise

a couple of days ago i received an email from my brother. there was three oversized poorly taken photos in this e-mail. maybe i am still in shock and have to look at them again. pictures of a ring (poorly focused); a picture of his nostrils and his betrothed (still no name); a photo of her opening something; and a stuffed white bear.

yesterday i got an email from Ms POA. she sent me an inspirational story. i thought it might be an apology for all the recent turmoil and a request to sit down and talk this all through. not quite. it actually was a story about an isolationist who fell off a mountain. i think the moral is that sometimes you have to let go and trust others. at least that is what i took from the story. i am sure that this message was not for me though; she mass mailed it to all of her friends, cohorts and admirers. no information though about our musical mother. does she go to the ADC or not. who is actually caring for her? that is on a need to know basis.

i had the pleasure of talking with my mother night before last. my kids talked to her as well. she is still completed confounded by recent events and simply can't understand why all this is happening. maybe the new attorney will be able to offer us some hope.

on the work front - change is constant.

One More Time

In a world already over populated and crazy with disease, famine, starvation, heart ache and love brimming to overflow, another child is conceived. Another alcohol-abusing, developmentally disabled mother will attempt to bring another child into this world. I had already begun to wonder why she was no longer expressing an interest in her son. She has another baby to love and smother with love. Another baby who will take care of her. Another child that we will more than likely spend our hard-earned tax dollars for so that she can again try to successfully raise this child. Even though time has already demonstrated her incapacity to meet her own needs, let alone the needs of the impending new born. There will be another father who will not have a relationship with his child. Another child who will miss the love of two willing and able parents. Another child who will become a statistic in our headlong rush into oblivion. When do we stop the insanity? I am not sure we can anymore.

Every Morning

i heard this while listening to Michael Friedman's e-book, The World is Flat. it is a very interesting perspective on what life is from differing perspectives. hope you find some meaning in this as well.

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens. He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the fastest lion. If he cannot, then he will be eaten.

Every morning in Africa a lion awakens. He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the slowest gazelle. If he cannot, he will die of hunger.

Whether you choose to be a gazelle or a lion is of no consequence. It is enough to know that with the rising of the sun, you must run. And you must run faster than you did yesterday or you will die. This is the race of life."

- African Proverb

think about this for a brief moment.

it happens

Life happens in the middle of all that we have planned. Kids are born, jobs are gained and lost. Families change. Friends come and go. It happens in an infinitely long instant. We are aware of all that transpires, we simply find a way to let some of it trickle in at distinct moments in our lives. I see this happening daily now with my 12 1/2 year old. Education is important to her in the grand scheme of her life, yet we can't get her to do her homework or even talk about the difficulties she might be having. Of course, we have already talked about her "perfect infallibility" and "immortality" that can be her own Achilles Heel. I know that each generation must go through this in its own way. I know that reality does come screeching in at some age. I simply want her to be awake in the process.

As I watch my parents age and look in the mirror myself, I see that time is a formidable foe. Time is a constant. We can pretend and try to ignore the inexorable, but inevitability wins.

So here is a brief recap of 3/5/07. Woke up, dragged myself out of bed....(the Beatles were so right). Took a shower, made breakfast for the unappreciative 12 year old, prepared some lunch for her, reminded her to take her medication. Walked downstairs, fed her guinea pig (the one she has pledged eternal love to, but forgets to feed and change the litter), made sure Dude had some fresh water. Drove her to school, talking about the general importance of family and education and an awareness of what history teaches us so that we may avoid similar mistakes. Gladly accepted a quick grunt of semi-appreciation (probably more that the ride and talk was over).

Drove to pick up a client in suburb so that she could attend her one-year old's developmental screening. She told me her attorney wants her to keep her mouth closed when she is with me. Supposedly, if she does not tell me the bad things, I will likely never find out. (An adult version of peek-a-boo).

Drove client back home after getting her a cab voucher to visit FH again today. She was more vocal this time, prying me for answers to hypothetical questions. I did my best to give her the answers she sought (although likely not the answers she wanted).

Took phone call from ex. 12 year old mouthing off to Spanish teacher at school. Daughter did not want to call me. We chatted about this briefly. I fumed and claimed I needed time for calmness before I started thinking of responses. Will call her back later.

Took phone call from neighbor. My wife had caught her son dashing from our garage. She thought she was calling my wife. She wanted to know if we might press charges and what our response might be. I told her we would talk and get back to her. No sooner than that call ended, phone rings again. It is my wife with an explanation of the succession of events. She is also returning my call from the incident with 12 year old. Chaos is spinning webs inside of my head at this time.

Note on my desk chair. Apparently missed court hearing. Not on my calendar. Proactive...just go deal with it. Talk with supervisor, talk with county attorney. Reminder to call insurance agent and get money for counsel with sister in GA. He needs to fax something to me and have me send it back ASAP. Email from sister wondering what happened to money I had promised to send. Quick response explaining no rubber check sent; SNAFU on this end. Will take immediate action.

Call from FP about kids placed in her home. When?
Call from client about ICPC in Missouri. Already on it is response to her.
Call from therapist, call from in-home provider, email from co-worker about changed visit due to storm on Friday. VM from FP indicating SV cancelled due to storm on Friday and will makeup when able. On vacation now.

Grab muffin for lunch. Co-worker snatches a moment to tell me she accepted new position. We chat ever so briefly about promotional application I completed. Need to get back to desk for report that should have gone to judge for hearing I already missed.

Need to complete request for hotel for dad coming from CA for hearing next week to take kids in previously mentioned FH back to CA (4 kids). Need to get kids baggage so they do not have to take plastic garbage bags on plane. Done after I stop and talk to SW about changes and what might happen in court.

Middle of the day. I can't write more because I have to go back in a start this all over. But we did talk about the trespassing at dinner with the kids. We did talk about how important school is just before we started homework that 12 year old did not finish. I told her I would awaken her at 5:30 to do the oh so simple Spanish report that needed to be in today.

Woke up, got outta bed. Dragged a comb across my head.

the game

made it through another exciting weekend. my son had a basketball tournament. they took second place, but one would not necessarily know that from the parents' reaction. completely supportive of the kids and the team play involved with athletics. we lucked out and had a good coach - one who has some understanding of normal child development. excellent interactions. it is incredible to watch your children grow up right under your eyes. there is the full spectrum of emotions. sometimes over and over again. sometimes just so intense it is almost unbearable. joy, pain, grief, ecstacy. they hold the violin strings for this symphony waiting to be named and played in entirety. constant dress rehearsals. i would not have it any other way.

i did not take a camera this time. not a single photo. not a moment when i could not be focused on the games. every one who knows me was stunned and shocked. how dare i? they usually count on me to have the best photos. i just wanted to be immersed in the moment for once. not composing or thinking about the lighting or the challenge of shooting around people or DOF....just watch the game, and that is exactly what i did.

~):

There are some things that words can't describe. Today was one of those days. Sunday school was hectic - we had 40 kids today. Seems that most of them have been cooped up indoors with the recent snow storm. That means that this was a free for all today. I usually leave exhausted. I had to drag myself out the door today...but then there is my old family stuff that we had to deal with. I have been talking about doing one thing or another. I have so desperately wanted to get something going financially so that I can stuff some cash away in the war chest. Lots of lookers, but getting people to cough up hard earned cash for an unknown quantity is more than a job...I am at the point right now where I think I need to have a marketing department. Or a publicist. Start printing and dropping prints off in various places. But again, that's work.

Why can't the money just fall into my lap? Grasshopper, one must....OK, I know that I have to pay my dues.

Then I have to think of a niche for the final product. Who do I want to sell these prints to? What kind of event or wedding photographer do I want to be? Maybe I have to think of this like a job instead of something else that I do. Report to work each morning about 5:00 a.m. and sell sell sell.

Rat Race

i want to get as far away from the human race as i possibly can...they (we) are a demanding and unforgiving lot of creatures. we seldom express appreciation for the simplest and most genuine kinds of loving acts. we want more. more jewelry, more money, more cars and accolades and such. the rat race is being won by the rats. people should not be part of it. time to change tunes and make positive use of my time. being positive about what i want instead of addressing it from the negative. saying yes to opportunity rather than worrying about this or that or something or the other. giving and taking...taking and giving again and again. i am just too fried right now to put this positive plan into action.

Snow Day

Tell me if this has any merit at all. I have lived here in Minnesnowta now for about 28 years. Each year it snows and people complain that we get either 1) too little (diehard skiiers and snowboarders and snowmobilers) or 2) too much snow. I can't quite figure it out. It would be similar to people who live in the desert complaining about how hot and dry it is. The way I figure it this snow is a boon. We get some much needed moisture that can melt into the ground (think summer drought) and we get some snow cover for a spell.

What is with all the hysteria about a few inches of snow? Everybody I know has some kind of 4-wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle. Isn't the snow one of the reasons they drive the gas guzzlers? Most of these vehicles are not off-road at any time. So quit your whining already. And slow down and use those long forgotten winter safety and winter driving skills. The only people I know in a hurry today are the ones who have a date with the medics or death. Slow down. I wanted to leave work early and find a choice location to watch for accidents (with camera in hand) ready to e-mail photos to insurance adjusters (for the right price, of course). See how this disgraceful situation with my sister has turned me into a leech. (you were wondering of course when I was going to mention something about Ms POA, weren't you?)

OK, new attorney who costs more money and will need more cooperation than I think my brother is willing to provide. I do not mind selling off my mutual funds (since I will never likely retire anyway). But it is the principle. Shut up and let us know or simply let us know and go on ranting about the Marvin Gaye solution.

off my soap box now!