T-Rump

This was started in early June and left as a draft... I'll go ahead and "publish" and move on!

My BP has been high.  High to the point that my doc doubled my main BP med in early April, and then again last week.  I was taking a very low dose of Lisinopril, 5 mg., now I'm at 20.  Why?  I'm guessing the state of our government is a lot of it, but it's probably also the trouble I'm having with the neighbors, though that's been a bit better since I put in the stakes.  But with how Trump is ruining our country, I'm just terribly concerned about where we're headed.  These outrageous tariffs are going to stress the budgets of working class to the point of ruin.  Of course, Trump doesn't care - his mountain of money won't be much less because of it.  And when I hear him blathering along about... well, ANYthing!!... he sounds like he's totally lost it.  Doesn't his incoherence concern anyone else?  Doesn't anyone else feel like the man is losing it?  And he seems bent on taking away all of our basic liberties.  This whole thing with Harvard, NPR, this "big beautiful bill", and so many other things.  Is everyone so scared of this man that they can't stand up to him?

So I'm lying in bed early this morning, I mean EARLY, like 5 am... I've been scared to look at how badly all of this has affected my investment money and thinking I should go talk to Matt, my money guy.  I want to ask him, point blank, "Soooo, what do you think of that fucking prick Trump now?  Still think he's the guy for the job?"  He's another one of the smart and seemingly decent folks who has bowed at the Trump altar.  I know there are people out there who can not, under any circumstance, admit they are/were wrong.  And you have those who would never, ever vote for a Democrat, even if Satan was the Republican candidate.  But come on - can't these people see how he's tearing apart our country, trampling all over our constitution?  

Anyway, this line of thought led me to how this is affecting my friends who were living by the skin of their teeth before this all started.  One friend has relied on Medicaid - she has been having some health issues and thank God she's had it!  And that's probably going away, or at the very least being gutted to the point she's probably going to be royally screwed.  Another friend can barely afford her rent, and when one little thing goes wrong that costs her money, she desperately calls me to help out with her rent.  She owes me close to $1000 right now and I doubt I'll ever see it as I see things only getting worse.  But if I say "no", she'll probably be on the street.  She has 3 adult children, none of which are exactly financially stable... and no one else.  She's from Germany and what family is left is back there, and she hasn't even been in contact with them for years.  She's eligible to go on SS, but they tell her she's not an American citizen.  She came here in late 70's (her dad, who was never married to her German mother, was a serviceman at Offutt AFB) and she relinquished her citizenship to Germany.  It's unclear what it will take to get her on SS, but I'm sure it will require a lawyer for which she has no money, and I don't really care to foot that bill.  I can only hope that when her health starts to wane that one of her kids will take her in...

So I worry about friends whose lives could be devastated if this inflation continues, if services continue to be cut.  If one of them became homeless, I'd feel kind of obligated to take them in, but I SO don't want that!  I'm finally living a quiet, stress-free, peaceful existence and I have no desire to bring someone into my life who will cause drama.  And you know that being friends with someone does NOT mean you would be compatible when it comes to living together.  Boy oh boy do I know that!  I always said it would be a lot easier to love Mark if we'd had separate residences!  He turned me from a sweet, loveable and always kind person into a nagging shrew.  If we could have had a duplex, his side & mine, where he came over for dinner, maybe to hang out for some TV or some "jollies" then went home, before he could make a mess at MY place, I wouldn't have had so much resentment and pent up fury.  

Mark was one of those "old school" guys who thought housework and cooking is "women's work."  But he also wanted the financial benefit of having a "working wife."  I would ask him to help with this or that around the house, and his response would be "yeah, yeah...later!"  And "later" would never come.  I can probably count on two hands how many times he, for example, washed some dishes, or cleaned a toilet, or (heaven forbid) vacuumed a floor.  Yet he was really good at leaving his clothes on the floor (with a hamper a few feet away).  He liked to have a Mt. Dew after work.  Would he put the can in the trash?  No.  If I didn't do it, at the end of every week, there would be a dozen Dew cans by his chair.  Ashtray... he would only empty it if it was too full to use.  Bluntly, he was a pig!  I got so I didn't nag much - I just shut up and did what I could, which meant the house was messy most of my working life.  Because, god-damn it, I WAS TIRED TOO!  And those few times that he actually DID something were only because periodically, the "steam" would have to release and I would blow my top and become that crazy shrew that threatened him, "Get the fuck out!" or "I'm leaving!" or something that would make him realize that I'd gotten to the end of my rope and he'd better do something to appease me. The man was the laziest SOB and oh boy, he was all mine.  (Can you hear me gritting my teeth as I say that?)

So thank you dear husband - you managed to "fix" it so that I will never, ever consider letting another man in my life!  I will never take the chance of ending up with another lazy SOB that's looking for a "mommy" to take care of him!  And I guess my point was that I really don't want another roommate, period.

Since I went on a rant (who knew I could still have so much resentment after nearly 4 years!), I will now count my blessings.  My house is now relatively tidy most of the time and I SO appreciate it!  Life is pretty easy-breezy right now.  I have everything I want for the most part.  I continue to improve and upgrade the house, and that makes me feel good.  I try to have a plan for "the next thing" to have something to look forward to.  And work is still good - I enjoy my co-workers and the drives that get us out of the city.  And my friends bring joy to my life.  And that's my rampage of appreciation for today...

============================

That was a week ago.  We are now firmly into June - where does the time go? I've noticed many of the fields are not planted, yet usually are by now.  What's that about?  I have a theory, but I'll wait a bit to share it in case they fill in...

I'm waiting to leave for work.  I'm working the airport today and they've been hounding us to "go in at your regular time!"  Back when I started, we worked the airport 9:00 to 6:00, so that's how I've continued to do it.  But some of them go in uber-early, like 6 am, when they're just opening, and leave early.  I'm a 10 o'clocker, so since the call to "go in at your regular time", I've gotten there between 9:30 and 10:00 as I would at 9W (our main hub).  But Todd, our often chase driver, still comes in early with the excuse that "you have to be there early to get a gate card" and he leaves early.  He will likely get "a talking-to" eventually, maybe. He's such an otherwise great employee, they might be wise just to let it go.

I'll be leaving in a couple moments, but when I get back to it, I'd like to talk about Anne from our cactus club... Anne is probably one of our elderliest members - a Jewish lady that was a child who survived the holocaust.  She is a kleptomaniac. This has become abundantly clear when we have meetings at member's homes and she "helps herself" to plants and cuttings of plants.  She has ruined show-quality plants for Kathy by taking a "snippet" out of the middle.  One time, at another member's house, she attempted to take a nice Desert Rose by popping it out of the pot and into her bag!  A member who saw her do it asked her if she had permission to take that and when she said "no", she made her put it back.  We sent her a letter from the board telling her this was NOT acceptable behavior and that she was not allowed to bring her bag to member's homes anymore.  We were surprised when she showed up at the next meeting... we kind of assumed that she would be ashamed and not return, at least for awhile.  Well, this last weekend, we had the meeting at Kathy's house and she came in without anybody noticing that she brought her bag.  And off she went, stuffing it with "goodies" again.  Ken, Kathy's husband confronted her and said, "You're not supposed to be doing that!"  To which she replied, "I know."  We ended up sending her a letter telling her she's suspended from the club for the rest of the year.  We'll see how things go next year...