Obsession…..

So, I am on a planner kick.  Yup, I have succumbed to the dreaded “I have to plan every moment” movement.

Well, it’s not quite that bad, but it’s getting  there.

I used to use a planner all the time, back when I had a life.  Now, however, I don’t really need one, but I still insist in attempting to control SOME area of my life, even if it is a fictitious social life.  You see, I block out time to do my blog, ya, I’m that bad.   Hell, I even have a “blog planner” where I keep ideas for posts, records of how many readers I have, who I advertise, where I post links.

Anyway, I block out time to exercise, to meditate, to do yoga, all kinds of goodies.  The  unfortunate part is that, unless I block out my time in the middle of the night, I never seem to get my stuff done.  Now the chores, the appointments, the random lists, they always get accomplished, but the personal stuff….not so much.

It’s not because I done WANT to do those things, it’s because my life is so out of my control right now that I simply CANNOT do those things when I need to.  I have to work around obstacles that I won’t even begin to try to explain, just take it to heart that there are things that will prevent you from doing anything enjoyable.  Yeah, exercise is enjoyable to me.

Anyway, that is NOT the point of this post.

The point of this point is obsession.

Obsession is many things, it is a desire that is out of control, it is a need that cannot be filled, it is an illness that cannot be cured.  It is love, it is hate and it is everything in between.

Some people are obsessed with how they look.  They will go to any lengths to have the “perfect” appearance.  They will allow themselves to be cut on, stapled, glued, bleached, roasted and basted in order to obtain that “perfect” (to them) look.  Who cares if parts of you are plastic, or are pulled so tight that you sneeze out of your belly button.  It’s all for a good reason.  To look “perfect”.

Some people are obsessed with sex.  They read about it, they watch it, they engage in it in every fashion.  They will pay for it, they will lie for it, they will do whatever is necessary for that next orgasm.  There have been cases where men have masturbated until they bled simply because they were addicted (really??) to orgasms.  There are women that will screw anything, any time, any place and any way, simply because they are obsessed with having the feeling that they are “loved”.

Some people are obsessed with other people.  Sometimes those other people are celebrities or even fictional characters.  There have been murders because of obsession.  People so twisted that they HAVE to have this one particular person with them FOREVER.  They have killed people, had them embalmed and then SLEPT WITH THEIR CORPSES!!!  Yup, you heard me correctly. Then there are the ones that have murdered they victims because they couldn't bear to see them with someone else. 

I believe we are all a little bit obsessed about something.  With me it’s the planner thing and, well, books.  I am obsessed with books.  I can’t help myself, it’s a sickness and I realize that, and I do really try to keep from buying more books, but, well as I said it is a sickness.

Which, of course, makes me wonder about things.  Things like, does one BECOME mentally ill or are you born that way.  Do you DEVELOP a obsession or is there always an obsession about something in your life. 

Are some people born “broken”?

By “broken” I mean those ones that aren't just a little bit anything, I mean the ones that are full fledged fucking crazy.

You know, the Jeffrey Dahmers of the world.  I mean seriously, was good old Jeffrey just driving around one day and passed by a hitchhiker and thought “Hmmmm, look at that sexy little thing!  Bet he’d be good with some BBQ sauce!”?  Did Gary Ridgway have sex with a hooker one night and think, “I bet she’d be a better lay if she were dead”?

Seriously, were they broken??  Fuck yes they were broken!!!  They were born with something missing that, hopefully, the rest of us have!!  At least that is my opinion.

But I wonder.  How could a human being become so obsessed with having sex with a corpse that they pick up LIVING people with the idea of turning then into corpses simply so they can screw them? 
Obsession can become dark and twisted.  It can evolve into something that none of us would ever recognize.  Could any one of us become “broken”?

How big of a jump is it to go from having too many books to collecting actual authors??  Is it possible for a normal (well, relatively) person to go so far off the deep end that they become a serial rapist, serial killer or just a serial stalker?

I know it’s sort of a strange topic,but I think about things like this when I can’t sleep, and we won’t go into the reason I can’t sleep, just take it for granted that I am operating on sleep deprivation!!
I don’t understand what motivates people to do the things they do.

I saw a post on Facebook today brought up various questions as well.

This is not the image but it says the same thing:



It’s a good question, what, seriously, was the man doing to the cow??

Or the first person to eat an egg!!  WTF??  You see something shoot out of a birds ass and decide it looks good enough to eat???  Seriously???

Makes being slightly obsessed with planners seem like a good thing, doesn't it?

Snow, rain, mud and let’s not forget the flu…..

So, by now I should either be better or dead, right?  Well, slowly getting better, I think.  I’m still weak as a kitten and get winded simply walking up or down the steps, but, I’m sleeping, I can eat and I’m not running a fever.  See, getting better.

Of course I haven’t gone anywhere in three weeks….yup, THREE weeks.  To say I’m a little bit stir crazy would be an understatement, but it’s been cold and snowy outside and I HATE to breath the cold air……it leads to coughing, hacking, puking and peeing myself!!  Yup, I said it, PEEING MYSELF.

You see, I’m a woman of a certain age (re: over 50) and I have given birth to FOUR children, so things don’t work the way they used to.  I usually don’t have the pee issue, but when I start coughing really badly I do dripple a bit.  Just a bit, not like a gusher or anything, a drop or two.

Damn, I’m really getting defensive about a couple of escaped drops of pee, aren’t I?  Well, blame it on society!  Blame it on my kids!!  Blame it on anything but me!!

It’s beginning to worry me some.  I’ve heard the stories about women who can’t even laugh without pissing themselves!  I DO NOT WANT TO BE ONE OF THOSE WOMEN!!  I CANNONT be one of those women!  I laugh entirely too much to spend my life running for the potty every time!!  Or worse, I’d walk around smelling like a pissy diaper!!  Nope, can NOT do that!!

But, time and motherhood will make things rough on a woman.  Do NOT say Kegel exercises!!  It’s all well and good, but when the pressure is on NO amount of squeezing will stop the flow!

So, I guess I just have one MORE reason to get over this respiratory shit!  It’s bad enough feeling like crap, and coughing and hacking, but the pissing myself has GOT to stop!!
Enough of that!!

We’ve had snow lately.  Big, wet, fluffy flakes of wet, cold snow.  It’s stayed around long enough to be a nuisance and, as you well know, I HATE nuisances!!

Today is warm enough that the snow is melting rapidly and the ground is once again turning into a layer of mud that will suck the shoes off a well shod horse!!  I don’t really mind so much this time, seeing as how I haven’t gone outside in like forever!  But I have to go out and about day after tomorrow or Saturday.  Hopefully by then there won’t be any soul sucking mud or freezing snow!!

I’m not looking forward to going out and about, especially with this pissing myself thing going on!!   And before you say it, YES I have heard of Depends and YES I have heard of Always Discreet!  But, no matter what the commercials say, they look like DIAPERS!!!  Yup, adult diapers (oddly enough that is what they were first called)  that are not near as cute as those little baby diapers with the duckies and such!
And the pads??  Yeah, right!  It’s bad enough when I had to wear those rolls of cotton for 5 days a month, but to wear them EVERY day for the rest of my life??  No thank you!!

Yeah, I have noticed that we are back on the topic of me peeing myself.  If you can’t tell it is really bothering me!!  Really, REALLY bothering me!!

I am sure that this is a temporary thing, at least I hope so, but what if it isn’t??  What if I have to spend the rest of my life worrying about every cough, every laugh, every sneeze???  I have allergies!!  This could be disastrous!!  Hay fever season??  GOOD GOD, HAY FEVER season??  I will be floating!!  I will be a natural disaster!!

This has got to be temporary!!  I cannot live the rest of my life worrying every moment!!  I refuse!
I suppose I could stop drinking things. No water, no milk, no soda, no coffee……NO COFFEE?? 

Hmmmm, NO, that is NOT an answer.  Well, it may be an answer to this problem, but I guarantee that it is the beginning of other, worse, problems. 

Since a small part of the world would NOT survive me without coffee, I guess I am going to have to figure out a different approach to fix the great pee problem.

Let’s see, there is medication!!  Yup, that must be the answer, medication!! 

There’s BOTOX!!  Yup, Botox!  The same medication that will get rid of wrinkles and make me look younger will take care of my pee problem!  Of course I would have to be on the look out for things like a hoarse voice, drooping eyelids, vision loss, muscle weakness,  trouble breathing, talking or swallowing and LOSS OF BLADDER CONTROL!  WTF??  I can’t take a medication to HELP me not pee myself only to have that same medication MAKE me pee myself ALL THE TIME!!

Nope, BOTOX is OUT!!

I could take DETROL!  Yup, that’s the answer!!  It works and even has an extended release formula that I could take!!  Sounds good!!  Now let’s see, what are the side effects??  Abnormal vision?  Well, hell, I already have that, it’s why I wear glasses!  Chest pain?  Not good!!  Cough?  NOPE, cannot do that either!!  Bloody painful urination??  NO, NO and NO!!

Can’t take Detrol either!  Damn!  What else is there??

Oxytrol?  Only if you want eye pain, skin rashes, confusion, clumsiness, hallucinations?  ABSOLUETLY NOT!  I mean shit, if you’re confused and clumsy you will miss the toilet!!  And if you are hallucinating you won’t KNOW if you need to go!!

Screw that!!  I think I’ll just deal with the occasional leaks and hope for the best!!  Otherwise I will be insane AND wet!

Well, I’m out of here!  I need to visit the ladies room…..NOW!!

Being sung into the world…..

So, the last several weeks I have been so ill that I can  honestly say there are several days I do not remember.  Apparently I had several conversation with people (although you can’t prove it by me) and told them that “I don’t know what I’m saying” and promptly got off the phone.

This flu is a killer, hundreds have died nationwide from it.  Thankfully, I am slowly but surely coming back from it.

Other than feeling like something the dog barfed up, this flu has totally fucked up my plans!!

You see, I have a new grandbaby, another little boy to add to the great circle of boy children in our family.  I had planned on going to Columbus when he was on his way and being there to see him into the family.

Didn’t work that way.  This “fuck-you flu” decided that I wasn’t going anywhere to see anyone into anything.  I laid here on the couch and wished I were someone else the entire time my grandson wiggled his way out.

Thankfully we have internet!!  My son, who is somewhat tech savvy, posted blow by blow of the beginning of labor right through to the last hour or two.  He then let us all know that little Liam was here, safe and sound, with his ten long slender “guitar player” fingers and ten short pudgy toes!  It wasn’t the same as being there, but it was still good.

My ex husband has already held Liam.  He was right there at the hospital and hung out with my son and Ashley and got to look little Liam in the eye and tell him that Pawpaw loved him.  I envy him that. 

I sit here, flu ridden and miserable, wishing I could safely hold my grandson and tell him Nana loves him too.
Oh well.

Will, little Liam’s daddy, is my youngest son.  He has always been the “sensitive” one of the bunch, even more so than the girls.  It’s his quirk and we accepted it long, long ago.  Being sentimental helps him to be such an amazing singer/songwriter and it makes his guitar playing all that more emotional!!  

Being sentimental also causes him to do some of the most amazing things ever!!  As Ashley lay in bed, deep in labor, and little Liam was restless and making things that much worse, Will sat down and sang to his wife and child.  He did this spontaneously and unscripted.  His performance brought tears to the eyes of the hospital staff and many of the people who watched via Facebook.   His love and devotion touched our hearts.  Singing to his wife and son, Will managed to calm both of them down and make things a little easier for a little while.

Knowing that one song helped, Will decided to sing yet another song, this one an original called Liam's Song.  Momma and baby loved it!!  Of course, having a song written for you before you are ever born is something you would have to love!!

Little Liam is lucky to be born into such a loving and talented family!!!  Can't wait to meet the little dude!!

Well, I've done about all I can do right now, I'm still fighting the good fight, although at the second it feels as though the flu is winning.  I'll be back whenever I can!!  I miss all y'all!!!  LOL

Love y'all!!

What the……

What is up with the weather???

I mean seriously, we go from –7 to 41 degrees F in less than 48 hours, then it’s rain, snow, rain, sleet, ice, rain…..wtf??

I am seriously debating the Cancun thing.  I think a big move would be a good thing right now, I’m just afraid that if I move to Cancun I’ll bring this shitty weather with me.

Or worse, I’d bring the lying, back-stabbing, gossiping twits with me!!  What a horrible thing to do to a wonderful place!!  I can see it now, the obscenely overweight  gossiping assholes walking around in bikini tops and thongs, making tourist from all over the world puke in their Mia-tai’s.

It’s amazing how a little bit of bad weather brings out the worse in the idiots.  It’s bad enough when it’s decent enough outside that you can go somewhere they are NOT, but when the weather is horrible, like it is now, with the snow and ice and more ice and freezing rain and did I say ice, the idiots go on rampages that would put most Huns to shame!

Bitch, bitch, scream, scream, whine, whine and bitch some more.

WTF???

How about accepting the fact that it is January and it will be BAD WEATHER and we will have ICE and SNOW??  Damn, what a fucking novel idea!!!!!

You would think these people didn't realize that we live in the part of the country that gets winter three to four months of the year.  But, NOOOOOO, NOT US!!

All you have to do is look at the weather map to realize that there are places that are getting MUCH worse weather than we are.  There are places that won’t have heat or electricity for days if not weeks.  So what if there is some freezing rain, not enough to break our power lines, but enough to make the road slick.  Does it mean that the world is ending??

No, it simply means it is the middle of winter.

People need to get a grip!!

If it were something that you or someone else had done, okay, feel free to bitch.  But this is NOT a man made problem.  It’s normal shit for this time of year!!!

Yes, it’s cold, so put on some extra clothes and when you go to bed put on an extra blanket or two.

Yes, it’s icy out, don’t go outside unless you have to.

Yes, we are going to get a little bit more snow, once again, stay inside.

But, I guess once you realize that these are the same people that are incapable of EVER being happy about ANYTHING, then you understand why they have to bitch about the weather.

I do it too, when it’s cold enough to freeze my lips together, especially when it’s cold enough to freeze ALL of them!!

But, and for only three letters that is one big ass word, I realize that there is no sense in bitching and complaining about for DAYS!!!

The same way as there is no sense in bitching and complaining when it gets dark out, duh, it does that.
Anyway, here it is five thirty in the morning and I’m already fed up with people bitching about shit that none of us can control.  That is the reason the television is off, the radio is off, and, as soon as I post this, the fucking computer will be off too.  I will put my headphones on and listen to some calm, soothing music and (hopefully) get some very much needed sleep!!

Unless someone wants to bitch about that too!

Misery loves company

So, as some of you may know, I live in Calhoun County, West Virginia, USA.

It’s quite the beautiful place.  Trees and shrubs, animals and little to no pollution.  It’s really pretty.  Of course there are no conveniences and if you want (God help you) a McDonald’s you have to drive 30 miles, but it’s a great drive with all types of scenery!!

The thing that is NOT beautiful around here is a large majority of the people.  I’m not talking about physical beauty, because believe me we have many that are physically attractive, I’m talking about the important type of beauty, the type you can’t see.

I've lived in a lot of places, North and South both.  I've been in cities and the countryside, I've lived in towns and villages, but I have NEVER, EVER, EVER been any place like this!!  EVER~

You see, around here people seem to enjoy making people miserable!  Yup, their happiness is tied up with the misery of others.  I don’t understand it, AT ALL.  As a matter of a fact, I think it’s sick in a profound way.  But it is what it is and there is nothing anyone can do to change it!

People want to gossip.  That is a worldwide fact.  Small towns seem to gossip more than large cities, less to do and all that.  But, and believe me it is a big, fat but, around here people ENJOY the misery of others.  They enjoy gossiping and adding their own little twist to whatever tid-bit they are passing along.  They twist things, they add things, they make each and every “story” their own.   Of course, the subject of said story is usually unaware of the things that are being said. 

Until……

Someone, usually someone that they are not that well acquainted with, asks them if such and such is true or if they actually did this or that.  The subject, caught unaware of the recent gossip, will be stunned or angry or just plain embarrassed that ANYONE would think/say such things about them.  They will be amazed that ANYONE would find ANYTHING they did as being “gossip worthy”.

But in small town “Merica” it IS gossip worthy.  But it’s gossip worthy ONLY because they (the ambiguous they) can add to it.

And the reason “they” want to add to it, because NOTHING anyone else does is enough to match the misery of the gossipers.  Yup, the gossip spreaders are among the most miserable human beings in existence!!
For some reason, “they” seem to think that if they make a story a little bit better or a little bit juicier then the person they are talking about will become miserable!!

And if the object of the gossip is already miserable?  Well then “they” have a field day.  Never are they happier than at the moment they are causing pain and misery to another human being!!

I don’t get it, but maybe you do.

I've actually heard someone say that it makes them feel “better” to know someone is miserable!!

WTF??  Am I wrong in thinking there is something inherently wrong with that??

We've all hear that Misery loves company, but DAMN, how fucking much company does one miserable person need???

There are so many ways that these people, these miserable people, these miserable gossips make life unbearable for others.  They don’t see the pain they cause, or else they don’t care.  Some of them even go so far as say it’s “getting back at” whomever their unfortunate target is.

There are so many things to do in the world, why would anyone waste their time gossiping about others or making an effort to make another human being miserable??  I mean hell, read a book, or color a picture.
I have even offered to buy several of them a coloring book and crayons in order to shut them the fuck up!!
But alas, these people are NOT interested in doing anything other than causing misery!

It’s a disease, in my opinion.  It’s a disease that people don’t seem to want to cure.

So what if so and so is sleeping with so and so??  Unless one or the other of the so and so people is in a relationship with me, I don’t give a royal shit!  So what if this one kicked the ass off of that one??  Unless I am this or that one I don’t care, and if I AM one or the other, I’d already know!

I guess it’s the inherent need they have to feel “better” than someone else.  Or else they are just plain old mean!

Whatever the cause, I still don’t understand it.  Being rude, being disrespectful, being a gossip, none of it makes any sense to me.  I guess I just don’t understand how a person can be so miserable, so empty inside that their happiness depends on making other people feel as badly as they do. 

There is something very, very wrong with the world when happiness is directly linked to the misery of others.
Hopefully we can figure it out and fix it soon.

Boobies and body issues

So I am 54.  Old, middle aged, whatever you want to call it, I am there.  I don’t usually complain about it, I mean hell, living to be 54 is better than the alternative.  I never did like dirt in my face anyway.

But, being 54 is not the issue.  Not at all.

The issue is that I, a slender, petite woman, have never had boobs!  I've always felt like I was missing out on something by being a perfect A cup.  (Especially now, when I use K-cups to make my coffee!!)

You see, we live in a society that glorifies tits!  Yup, I said it.  We jumped on the booby train years ago and I was left at the station!!

My boobies are small.  They do not garner much attention.

Small boobies!!  NO, mine don't have blue feet!

I have AMAZING nipples, although they just sit there and say, “If God had given me tits they would have been *here and *here.”  Yup, it’s that bad.

I have thought, from time to time, of getting breast implants.  Not huge things, just average titties, ya know.  Something like a B cup would be amazing!!  But of course, time and money have always been an issue, not to mention the fact that I don’t want to be 80 and have perfect tits while the rest of me decays like something from the Walking Dead!!

Small boobies don’t ask for much.  But they are sensitive.  They don’t enjoy being kneaded like bread dough, nor do they enjoy being smashed in padded bras that try, without much success, to force them to look like cleavage.

Even though I have small boobies, I have a great ass.  My ass is round, tight and heart-shaped, it looks great in jeans and serves as a wonderful pad for those rock hard seats!!

 Heart shaped ass!  NO, mine does NOT have fur!

It doesn't seem fair that I was gifted with a great ass and NO boobies!!  Who came up with that combination??  It is insulting!

My sister has boobs!  She has boobs to spare!!  Others in my family have boobies galore!!  Me, I have great nipples and that’s about it!

I guess it’s society’s concept of women that has driven me insane over the years.  I mean, we are bombarded with pictures of women with tits that would put Venus to shame.  But of course we will never know how much of that is Photoshop and how much is surgery!  We only see the end product.

Breast augmentation is NOT something to take lightly.  For all that it is done a hundred times over every single day in this country, it is a serious surgery.  And for what?

To have two sandwich bags of foreign substance placed in your body so that people will look at your tits??  To face serious health risk because the public seems to think great boobs equals a woman’s worth?

And women are just as bad!  We have great catch phrases like “My eyes are up here” and “Boobs are prove that men can focus on two things at once” and then we bitch when we are treated like object and have rude things said to us.  We talk down to each other and we say the snidest things to flat chested women. 

I know, I've been on the receiving end of that one!!  And it sucks!

My face when another woman makes a snide tit remark!

We have become so body obsessed that we  have forgotten that it is NOT our stature that makes us good people, it’s not the clothes or the boobs or the jewelry, it’s what is inside.  It’s the love, the joy and the desire to make things better.

Yeah, some of you are saying, “Big tits DO make things better.”  Bullshit~

I’d love to see a man worry about his ball sack being too small.  If men were judged not on their merit but on the size of their balls there would be a whole new market for surgeons!!  And think of the clothing lines that would develop!!  Yup, this should be the next body issue trend!!

You thinks politicians are dumb now…..imagine, being elected based on the size of your testicles!!

Randall, future Presidential candidate for President

Test scores would be meaningless, you would be judged on how big your balls were and how well you displayed them!!

Instead of “Flat-chested fashion tips” there would be articles titled “How to best display your undersized scrotum”.  There would be “ball enhancing” underwear for the “slightly less endowed”.  There would be plastic surgeons advertising in Popular Mechanic!!

There would be stores carrying ONLY ball related clothing.  Jeans would need to be redesigned and man-thongs would be no more!!

Men worldwide would worry about how they dressed so they didn't attract the “wrong type of attention”.  And males would be constantly saying, “My eyes are up here!!” and “Admit it, you are only attracted to my balls”!

Aww what a world!

NOT!

It will NEVER happen because MEN and WOMEN are different.  I didn’t mean physically either, DUH!  I mean, men would NEVER allow themselves to be placed on display and judged for a physical trait.  Men realize that there is MORE to other men than the size of their testicles!  MEN get to know other men before they judge.  MEN are, by and large, NOT catty little bitches!

You see folks, we call two females fighting a “cat fight” for a reason.  Have you EVER seen a cat fight?  Or better yet, HEARD one??

What did you say to me bitch???

We, the “fairer” sex are NOT fair!  We are judgmental, we are snide and we can be down right hateful!  We scratch, we spit, we slap and we bite.  WE are in no size, shape or form FAIR!!

And women, you are the reason I have considered getting myself mutilated!  Yup, I said it, mutilated.  I have considered having my chest cut open and foreign objects stuck in there simply because other WOMEN are hateful bitches and make snide remarks.  By and large, straight MEN are happy to play with boobs.  They may like huge ones, but they will play with ANY of them that do not belong on another man!  Or their Mother!

Women however will comment on how you looks, and whether or not you should wear something because I don’t have the “build to make the dress look best” as one sales clerk told me.  (In other words it was too “sexy” for a flat-chested bitch like me)

Never mind that I liked the dress, never mind that I was buying it for ME not for someone else, never mind that I thought it looked wonderful.  Some bitch had to destroy my dream of wearing it because I, being flat chested and short, couldn't fulfill her standards.

Life sucks sometimes, doesn't it?

There are other things that have given me “issues”.  But that will be another post on another day…..or maybe later today.

Murderous cats and freezing weather….

There was another failed attempt on my life tonight.  I thought I heard the big grey fur-demon actually whisper something about the assassins failing again, but that could have been the adrenalin.

You see, it went something like this…..I was going in to the bathroom to, well, do usual bathroom stuff.  As I enter that small room with the porcelain throne, I am intent on NOT waking anyone up  It’s late, everyone is asleep except me, and it’s POLITE to be quiet and RESPECTFUL of others!!

Anyway, I reach around the door frame, fumbling for the light switch because this little room has no windows and it is late and pitch black, and having a light will prevent me from accidentally having, well, an accident.  The light flares, I am momentarily blinded when suddenly.

Something hits the back of my knee, a weight, soft and solid, slams into me and causes me to stumble.  I loose my footing and begin to fall, knowing that my poor, soon to be crushed, skull will come  into solid contact with the afore mentioned throne.  In the split 1.8 seconds that it takes for my one hundred and thirty pound body to come into contact with the cold, hard floor, I manage to twist my body while bending as far forward as I can.  Then comes the blinding pain.

Tears spring to my eyes and my ears ring, the back of my head grazed the throne, causing a headache the size of which would bring King Kong down from the tower in search of a Tylenol!  I lay there, still and in pain, when my blurry eyes light upon……..

The fucking grey demon cat, sitting, quiet and regal, while staring at me and mumbling something about “yet another failed attempt!”

That little bastard is doing his best to kill me!  I’m convinced that he has a life insurance policy with my name on it.  If he makes it look like an accident the little shit will collect enough cash to keep him in tuna, chicken strips and scoop-able litter to last a dozen feline lifetimes!  Not to mention he will be able to pay someone to take care of his worthless ass!!

That damn cat has been attempting to kill me for about six months now.  I’m afraid that one day he will succeed.  He and I have a hate/hate relationship.  The only time he acts as though I am anything but an animated clawing post is when one or more of the following takes place:

1.) His litter box has uncovered turds in it.  You would think the meowing feces machine could cover his own shit, I mean the large of majority of felines are VERY finicky about that, but this one, oh no!!  He actually believes that he can come to me and rub and mew and rub and then run toward the kitty litter box and I will come and COVER HIS SHIT!!   Now I admit that there has been a time or two when I have rushed to the kitty litter box, grabbed the pooper scooper and slung litter over the errant turd, but that ONLY takes place if the evil bastard leaves one while I’m on my computer!  HE STINKS!  Worse than ANY cat I have ever been around.  I’m not sure what is going on inside his mangy hide, but it must be something sinister!!

2.) If he can see even one millimeter of white (the color of his food bowl) through the shit producing cat food he will come to me and act like a starving child.  He will rub and lick and jump, he will be CUTE in every single way possible.  HE WILL BE CUDDLY KITTEN!!  Cuddly my ass, he’s a manipulative, self-center ball of fur!!

3.)  If there are no birds or squirrels on the back deck this fur ball with come and scream at me, rub on me and traipsing around like some type of royalty!  Yup, the birds and squirrels are considered “Cat TV” and if there is nothing on then it is, in the furry bastard’s opinion, MY responsibility to remedy the problem!!

You must keep in mind that this is NOT my cat, it is my friend’s cat.  It never bothers her for anything more than a little bit of milk (which may explain the stinking kitty logs) in the mornings.  If he does something that I have to get onto him about he runs to her like a spoiled child would run to its mother!  HE IS ROTTEN.

But of course he doesn't have a life insurance policy on his Mistress.  Nope, that just wouldn't work.  He would have no one to protect him when he does something stupid, like jump on another cat while it’s sleeping peacefully and starting a bloody fight, or knocking stuff off of the counter or, the worse one yet, pissing in someone’s boot!  No, if he took a contract out on his Mistress he would NOT be a cat, he would be the lining of a beautiful pair of gloves!!

When he starts his shit, I usually toss him onto the back deck.  But today it’s so cold that I can’t do that.  As much as I would like to “cool his jets” I cannot purposely cause him to suffer..well, not that much anyway.
Speaking of cold, my God!!  It’s ridiculously cold!!  The birds are all puffed up and the squirrels peek out from the nice, warm holes they have found in the trees.  Even the lure of corn doesn’t bring them out.

We are experiencing, once again, a Polar Vortex.  Polar, in this context, means of the North or South Pole.  In other words DAMN COLD!!  Vortex means swirling mass of air.  So a Polar Vortex is basically a North Pole whirlwind that sits over us like a mother hen on a nest. 

The “dusting” of snow that we were expecting yesterday ended up being five and a half inches of cold, fluffy white stuff.  Now, with the Polar Vortex hovering over, the wind picks up that fluffy white snow and launches it into the air, blinding everything that it encounters.  The field across the road looks like a scene from a fantasy movie in which forces of good and evil are battling with ice and magic.  Twisting, twirling, blinding snow tossed on a sea of cold polar air.

Fancy words to say something simple. DAMN it’s cold out and that blowing snow sucks.

So, while the cat plots to kill me and the wind blows curtains of cold sharp ice particles, I will sit here imagine myself in a place where cats love us and snow is soft and warm.

Winter has finally arrived bringing rude indifference……

Well, we had two days in a row where the temperatures were over sixty degrees, yup, 60, in January!!   And while that was going on Southern California got SNOW!!!  Yup, the old white stuff fell out of the sky and basically ground Southern Cali to a halt!!  Of course the amount of snow that received would have been considered a heavy frost here, but hey, Cali doesn't get snow like we do….used to.

Now of course it could be that Old Man Winter just wanted to take a brief vacation!!  Yup, that could be it!!  I mean where better to spend the winter than Southern California??  But of course, when you are the embodiment of cold you would probably  have to go to somewhere extremely hot in order to knock the chill from your bones.  SO maybe the snow in Southern California was Old Man Winter’s feeble attempt at getting warm.

Whatever it was, he has come to West Virginia with a vengeance.  It is only in the twenties today, and come Wednesday it will be in the teens with a low of 4 degrees!!  I hate 4 degrees!!  But it is January and we have to expect some miserable weather.

I’m not sure how many more days until Spring, I have lost count.  But I am looking forward to its arrival with baited breathe!!  Flowers and birds, new leaves and baby animals, yup, definitely my favorite time of year…..well, except for the rain.

I believe I have spoken about the rain in West Virginia before.  I know y’all are probably as tired of hearing about it as I am in dealing with it, but hey, it is what it is, right?  Rain equals mud, mud equals the biggest headache you can imagine.  Have you ever seen mud actually stain the paint on a car? It does here!!  And your clothes??  Well, let’s just say that mud brown is all the rage from March until….well, whenever.

I am not perfect.  Yeah, I know, you are stunned.  But it is the truth.  I have a temper, I can be vengeful and blunt to the point of being rude.  But I am never outright rude.  I was brought up better than that. 

Maybe it’s being Southern, or maybe it’s just that my family took the time to teach me respect of others.  Whatever the reason, I am not a rude person.  I do my best to be polite, even when I have to grit my teeth to do so.  Believe me, there are many, many people that make it difficult to maintain politeness.

This time of year seems to bring out the worst in some people, actually in most people.  They are stressed out trying to prove they care about others by spending money they don’t have for things the other people don’t need.  They worry about decorations, gifts, cards, dinners and all the other stuff we’re suppose to enjoy.  Not to mention that it’s usually cold and dreary and we are trapped inside instead of enjoying the great outdoors.   As a result of being so stressed, people, myself included, find themselves with shorter fuses.  It doesn't take much to make someone snap at a slow cashier or driver.  We are all in a hurry to get our stuff done.

Of course we all know that snapping at a cashier doesn't make him/her move any quicker.  But if you notice, more and more people are snapping at the cashiers, other drivers, customer  service people and whoever else doesn't do what they want, when and how they want it done.

Some people, however, are basically rude anyway.  We all know them, they are the ones that can’t seem to force themselves to say Thank you or Please, they don’t open doors for older people or even wave back when you wave at them.  Their faces are drawn and tired looking from frowning all the time, they don’t have that spark that lets us know they actually do have a heart……they are the rude people!

Now when you have the rude people and cold weather, well it is a recipe for disaster. 

Once upon a time I thought that Rude People didn't realize that they were different from the rest of us.  I thought they didn't realize that you are suppose to say Thank You when someone opens a door for you or carries your groceries to your car.  I was under the false assumption that they were never exposed to simple manners.

Boy was I wrong!

You see, the majority of Rude People KNOW that it is polite to thank people for the small things they do, they realize that responding when someone says hello is the polite thing to do.  THEY JUST DON’T CARE!!

Rude People have put themselves above the rest of us.   Their defense for being rude is that they DON’T HAVE to NOT be rude.  They will actually say I DON’T HAVE TO!!  WTF???  No, you don’t have to, but it’s the polite thing to do, the human thing, the RIGHT thing.

After a while of dealing with the Rude People, normal humans find themselves responding to them with equal rudeness.  It’s a contagious thing, someone is rude to you over and over again and then you find yourself being rude to some stranger and justify it because that person doesn't know you and will probably never see you again.

The only thing you've done is passed on that contagious disease called INDIFFERENCE!  That is how it starts, that is the beginning of the epidemic we are suffering now!!  RUDENESS is a symptom, INDIFFERENCE is the disease!

We become hardened by the everyday evils we see, we don’t respond the way we once did.  We don’t do the simple little things that need to be done in order to NOT be a rude, not to be indifferent to the needs of others.  We walk across the street so we don’t have to pass that beggar standing there with a sign that says he’s hungry, he’s probably just going to by alcohol or drugs with the money anyway, right?  I mean, look at him, he’s not had a shower in weeks, his hair is greasy and dirty and his clothes are hanging on him, he’s probably just some worthless drug addict!  That’s what the rude will say, that is what the indifferent will shout!

But that dirty, greasy bum could be a veteran who is suffering from PTSD and finds it difficult to function in the “real” world.  He could be a father who has lost his job, his home, his family and is trying to simply get some food.  He could be someone who’s home burned to the ground and the insurance wasn't enough to pay for a new place so he ended up on the streets.  He could be……you if things were a little bit different.

And NO you DON’T HAVE TO do anything other than pass him by without even a word of encouragement.  YOU DON’T HAVE TO.  But, you should.  You should show him a little kindness, a little politeness, a little bit of humanity.  Speak to him, nod to him, give him some change, whatever it is that your heart says to do!

DON’T BE RUDE!!  Remember this is someone’s son.  He had a Mother and a Father, he had a family and people that loved him.  HE IS WORTH SOMETHING.

If you attempt not being a rude asshole, you will find that there are all types of possibilities out there.  It is possible that the bum we are talking about isn't actual a bum at all, he maybe a great artist, he maybe your long lost brother.  You will never know if you insist on being rude.

Being rude when you are behind the wheel of a three thousand pound hunk of machinery is another sickness we suffer from now.  We seem to think that we can make rude gestures, scream at other drivers or dart in front of them and cut them off and there will be no consequences.  Yup, no consequences, that’s what the husband in California thought right before his young wife and the mother of his four children was shot in the face while riding in the passenger seat of his car.  She died sitting in her own driveway.

Who knows what perceived ill a young man named Asti Davidson did in the early morning hours before someone forced him off of the highway and shot him, ending his life at the age of 28.  Someone thought this young man did something, someone was suffering from the most extreme case of indifference ever to take his life.  But they are no worse than the people who drove by, never bothering to check on him.

We need to stop!  We need to find compassion, understanding and care for our fellow man!!  We used to have it!  Where did it go?

I know it’s not just the cold and wet that has driven it away.