Getting an IV Drip

 I had to look up whether an IV drip was made for treating a bout of heavy drinking after reading about a singer who drank too heavily on a television show where the host imbibes too much alcohol with his guests. Article Here. It turns out, there are IV bars where people get an IV for having drank too much alcohol or for general health benefits. Article Here.

Fads come and go, you see pictures from 40 or 50 years ago and you don't even notice you were so immersed. I remember bellbottoms and miniskirts. Coming home from college I wore a below knee length skirt which shook up my friends at church. I was going mod on them in an ugly fashion sense. I agreed with everyone that the longer skirt looked strange. At 18, you can have three or four opinions without embarrassment.

I've always been a linear thinker. Oh I have had a few epiphanies. They were far and few between. So I was a bit impressed with this 34 year old Texan named Matt Tunstall who has lived in California for the past three years where he has created two political PACs. The PACs impersonate Trump and draws most of it's donations from retirees. Essentially what money is spent on politics is to create robocalls. Both PACs have collected 3.4 million dollars based on federal filings. And yes, most of the funds are used to pay Matt a generous paycheck. There has also been filings of missing funds. Hmmmm

Needless to say, this guy is living the life of Riley. He tools around Los Angeles in an expensive sports car, wears designer glasses, jewelry and clothes. Calling himself an influencer on Instagram and tik tok, he gives himself credit as an award winning writer and executive producer on LinkedIn. But he basically shams old people into making donations in their devotion to Donald Trump. Then he adds insult to injury in that he uses what he needs to keep the PAC legal? on robocalls tooting different causes of the Trump. CNN article about Tunstall's PAC

Unethical is all I can say to describe him. But you have to admit, he is ingenious in generating all that cash. It will be interesting to find how his future works. I certainly would not want a daughter to marry him. You would know going in, he is shallow money grubber. I've wondered if he will have a "come to Jesus moment" to excuse his manipulation of people for money. Hopefully he will not become a televangelist and really rake in the dough. 

My brother was a Trumper and I am a never Trumper. We agreed on one thing, never send a politician money. 

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has raised 3.4 million dollars since her election. Who says talking smack does not pay. She and Matt Gaetz have been traveling the country talking about issues that get some people all riled up. Both have a chance of a snowball in hell of being re-elected. Matt Gaetz may be serving time for having sex with an underage female. (Maybe, his father is very wealthy and it is Florida.) Mountain people who elected Greene don't like looking like fools. There must be about twenty people interested in running for her office. But I think she gets to keep the money. 

I rarely donate to the large charities. I donate locally to the many small non-profits that help people in central Georgia. 

Any way, I don't think I will be getting an IV drip anytime soon. At least I hope not. And my head just swims with the audacity and greed of people sometimes. But this is one retiree they hopefully will never get a dime from. I hope. My mom's mind slips at times, but she still knows how to manage her money.

This is my second great grandfather and family. I think my great grandfather Duard William Bennett is the young man on the horse in the back. 

Slave Labor and Mob Rule

 Hey, I'm talking about Brittney Spears. 

Not these children of migrant cotton field workers from May of 1937. Photo by Dorothea Lange.

I am much too old to appreciate the talents of Brittney Spears. She is beautiful and must be a wonderful performer to garner the fans she has. She's dressed very sexy and is aggressively approaching some defenseless male in an airplane in the one that I watched. I did not finish. I did not watch a second. I doubt I would have watched them as young woman. Maybe. I don't know. As a teacher, I appreciated why we weren't allowed to call boys as a teenager. Girls could be outright pests for some boys and their family with incessant phone calling. I got that vibe from the video.

I'm not the sort of person who becomes a super fan. Although I was very disappointed to discover Sean Connery was the same age as my father. The fact that I never met him or knew what he was like; I was in love with him. But I have felt the same love for Tommy Lee Jones and Hal Ketchum. Just a huge crush that was a bit of fun.

It looks like we are going to see what a mean woman Brittney Spears can be to her father. I have a mentally ill sister living with me. None of them need their meds, just ask them. So getting Brittney off a conservatorship without evaluation is going to be an interesting feat. I mean if she does not have a conservator, does not take meds for her mental illness, and her 58 million disappears does she qualify for medicaid or what?

This has hit me personally in that both of my sisters have squandered a great deal of money denying they have a problem. I've picked up the pieces for both. And both are just as candid on what nasty things they have said about me. So this is where I am with Brittney wanting her father prosecuted. How did she get from 2 and a half million to 58 million in the past 13 years with him stealing her money. She only wants to have a baby and marry her 26 year old boyfriend. Brittany Spear's father may be wrong but I doubt he does not love his daughter.

And these fans, who needs a court system with laws when people can just mob up and protest. Frankly, this protesting is too much in this country.  I remember a teacher I worked with had an argument with her child's high school teacher. I wasn't listening in detail because I was eating and having a break. But I remember her summation. The important thing was she got her way. Her son was a jerk. 

There is a huge distance between social justice and Brittany Spears being a slave.

My question is. Why didn't boyfriend hire her a lawyer? 

Another question is why are we to believe Brittney point blank and not listen to her father side.

Another question is why are people close to her so damn scared. They give the response they support Brittany but they don't broach the topic.

Another question involves an on air personality stating he saw Brittney in a drugged like state and observes maybe she does not need her meds. Meds that treat Bi-polar and Schizophrenia do not make you seem drugged. I do know for Bi-Polars, they love the mania but the depression is hell. So if Brittney was drugged, hmm, why? Which leads to the question, why would an educated person who is untrained feel they can make that recommendation.

Another question, who doesn't have a loving father who would be a pain in the arse running their life. My father who I loved was so controlling it made you miserable at times. I can tell you it is a privilege getting to know your elderly parent like my mother. But, my life is constantly observed, edited, etc. I fell last Monday and reinjured a hurt back, a knee and a wrist. I am sleeping in a lift chair beside my mother. We are more connected than when I was two. It is terrible. 

Another question is why does the general public think that someone that has mental illness is a complete imbecile unable to do anything? Schizophrenics make up 1 percent of the population. Of that one percent, roughtly 10 to 20 percent have lifelong psychotic episodes. Which means 80 to 90 percent do not. People with Bi-Polar make up another one percent. Twenty percent of people at any given time are suffering from mental illness. So how do we jump to the conclusion that someone with mental illness is non-functional.

I think Brittany should get what she wants. As long as you aren't hurting other people or doing anything criminal, you have the right to live your life as you want. One thing that is hard for parents is to step back and allow your child to live their lives mistakes and all. I do understand why celebrities are speaking up. It allows them to tap into Brittney's fan base. Some may have strong genuine feelings on Brittany's behalf. My concern would be the level of mental illness that she suffers. There is a huge difference between someone being treated for mental illness and someone who is not treated. 

From Brittany Spears anger I feel a confusion. Is she vicious? Is it righteous anger? Who knows. But we will read dribble about her poor miserable life off and on for a while.

Meanwhile, the West coast of the United States is burning. There is flooding in Europe. People are dying of Covid who intentionally declined the vaccine. I know. A cousin of mine recently passed from Covid. The misinformation from so called experts who has made some people paranoid about a supposed Big Brother aspect of everyone getting the vaccine is the problem. I really would like Brittany Spears to go after these folks. Their misinformation is killing people.

Working Dogs

 Americans really like their dogs. I can still picture an older man with his arm around his dog like a girlfriend and talking to it as they slowly drove down a minor highway. The man leaned into his dog as he took a right turn on a small road that would cross a railroad track. This happened easily 40 years ago.

In June of 1997, I purchased a miniature poodle at a yard sale. I was hoping he would be large miniature. He was a small miniature and never weighed over 10 pounds. At the time I had a 90 to 100 pound Golden Retriever mix. I would walk the two dogs. The large dog would want to stop and enjoy the scenery and lay down on me. In time, Mr. 9 pounds would do the 90 pound dog lay down. I humored him some. One night my large dog was at the vets recovering from a minor surgery. I began to walk my small dog at twilight and realized my rural walk was not going to happen. Mr. 9 pounds was not the protection Mr. 90 pounds was.

The world can be a messy, miserable place. I certainly believe "Survival of the Fittest" is the rule versus the exception in the most civilized of countries. I have two mentally handicapped siblings and this is why I moved home and began helping my mother. My big regret is that I did not do so when my father was alive. The year before he passed, I came home for about two days every week. I began working at an evening high school which had a longer day but the luxury of a four day work week. It was a jolly year for us.

My older brother is developmentally delayed. One time he tried to tell me that people were mean to him and he did not like to walk the dogs. A week or so later, I was following him and my sister walking their dogs. As I caught up, the children who were taunting them saw me. They froze in their tracks and rode off on their bikes. They recognized me as a teacher at their school. 

There is a sadness you feel that is so very old. My brother's siblings would get into fights to protect this brother. I remember one man coming to our home because my squirt of a brother who was about 8 had taken on his 13 year old child who was easily double my brother's size and threatened to call the law. The fact that they never answered the door when my mother had gone to talk to them about the bullying made me laugh on the inside to witness him practically crying about what my brother had done.  His son was not injured. 

I have a sister who developed schizophrenia when she was 19. It is a horrible brain disease. She is quite feisty and people will leave her alone. But there is the other problem which is much worse. It is the isolation of people avoiding her. She is harmless and the medication she takes now has really helped. They say the stigma of mental illness will begin to end as they develop treatment. 

It was with great sadness when my other sister had a stroke. She lost a part of herself and man did the predators swoop in. They are still about and it is a big concern for me and the people who love her. She wants to live independently which she manages. But she needs help. 

So I see the ugly side of humanity. I think about it when I get older. Will someone step up for me? Heck I don't know if I will live that long. I don't believe in worrying about what has not happened.

But I remember walking my dogs. A big burly man in his beat up truck stops and backs up. He is beaming as he shows me his little white poodle with a pink bow on it's head. I drive down the road and see a working class black man walking a foo foo dog of some sort. Another time and day, I am sitting in a park watching a group of kids walking their dog much that is larger than themselves. This gives me a lot of hope for what goes well in the world.  

I currently own nine dogs. Three dogs work as boon companions to my mother, brother and sister that live with me. Three dogs are quite elderly and are pets inherited from one of my brothers who has passed and two from my sister who had a stroke. The final three are mine. 

No one sneaks up on our house. My bulldog is probably my crime preventer where I live.  But it is my Chihuahua mix that is going to rip the home invader in half. The bulldog will only participate if that person makes the mistake of trying to hurt her little buddy.  The mother of the chi mixes is a great ratter too. Almost as good as these cats I have. 

Today there was a deer in my front yard. It seems to know me and wasn't bothered by my mowing. It looked at me. I looked at it. And the elderly 18 year old 6 pound dachshund barked her head off. I was impressed the dog had located the deer.

My older brother's dog is about 60 pounds and about 17 years old. She is blind and cannot hear. I always have to make sure where she is when I approach the road to fetch the newspaper or mail. My mother fell when I went to my brother's house to pack his things. When the medics came, my sister had put all the dogs but the two old ladies up. Well my brother's dog walks up to them and growls "No entry into my house".

My sister put her up but the medics waited for a law enforcement officer to come. As the medic explained, it is when you try to pick someone up that the dog attacks. They are only defending their owner. As aggravating as it had to be for my mother being delayed in being picked up by a toothless, blind hound; my mother had to call her sister that night to brag on the dog. 

My brother's dog does more than just eat. She pees all over the place. But that is another story.