Cobb County Water System Cobb County GA

My problem goes back the entire time I've lived in Cobb County but has become unbearable now that I am on SS and disabled. Therefore I will focus on my current problem.

 In December 2017 I had heart failure I returned home in January with two caregivers (who ultimately ended up costing me over $12K but that is another story). I had fallen behind in EVERYTHING ... I had enormous expenses those first few months. I came home and am still on oxygen, I could not even walk (I am 100% better now but for a while I was very very ill). Every utility, every company, my mortgage company, everyone worked with me to manage my crisis EXCEPT Cobb County Water System ... their bill was my lowest so each month I'd call them (and wade through 45 minutes of HSA noise and elevator music) to tell them I will pay you as soon as I get these others caught up and each time it was fine fine ... then I FINALLY got to the point I could pay them ... Hooray, June -- I reached my initial goal of having 75% of everything caught up -- and I could afford to pay them the full $200 that had accumulated.

I called, paid by phone the full balance and she said "have you checked your water today?"  Well I had not, it was still early in the morning I hadn't even gone upstairs yet but low and behold while we were on the phone they were turning off the water.  They had not even made it to the end of my street when they turned around came back and turned it back on ... I was charged an ADDITIONAL $50 the next month.

Once again I had to call to pay the bill (their antiquated system will not allow you to receive a bill and PREschedule payment so you either have to call the day your SS goes into your account or pay online that day) and I called because I had no intention of paying the $50 fee ... I paid the bill not the fee and requested a supervisor call back. the next bill came I called and said I'm not paying until I talk to a supervisor ... again I waited.  once again no supervisor called me back ... I called AGAIN the end of August when my September bill came in to discuss the $50 and again I was referred to a "supervisor".

My current bill has a delinquency AND the $50 because I am STILL waiting on the supervisor call.  I called this morning, talked to Janie sho could do absolutely nothing to help me so again I requested a supervisor call back and told her I am contacting Channel 5 about this because I am sick, I am tired, I am old and I cannot do this kind of stress anymore. 20 minutes later Kimberlyn called back.  Isn't that amazing? Threaten them with media exposure and presto a supervisor call back.

Did she want my story? No.  She wanted to explain THEIR policy ... I kinda got that lady, it's your policy I'm complaining about for heaven's sake.  ... you bill people who are struggling already an additional $50 and don't offer ANYTHING in the way of service in return much less help BEFORE the fact.  I finally said "Will you please SHUT UP?" You aren't listening to me" "you have not once asked me what is your problem"  ... I was then reprimanded for my tone which led to an argument where she hung up on me (and no I did not curse or raise my voice beyond an affirmative tone.  I immediately tried to call back .... I have now been on hold for another 20 minutes ... still holding trying to get someone who will first LISTEN to me and second actually do something about this.  At the end of the month I am fortunate to have $2 in the bank and I do NOT waste money ... for me it is as finite a resource as the little time I have left to be wasting it on arguing with millennial employees who have zero respect much less compassion for others.  I now understand WHY their service technicians feared for the lives ...

OH OH AND IT GETS BETTER while I was holding just now (and I'm still holding)  I took the trash out and guess what is on my door? ANOTHER DISCONNECTION NOTICE.  So I will now owe them $100 and all this while I have been doing my dead level best to work with these people.  I am simply dumbfounded ... I have lived in Cobb County since 1982? 1983? lived in this very house since 1990, lost my house to a fire and rebuilt, ran a wonderful canine rescue right out of this very house ... I'm not going anywhere ... where is the humanity anymore? Have we ALL become just another figure in the trip to the bottom line?  Never, not once in my life have I EVER asked for help for myself.  When my house burned? Nope. I needed help for my dogs ... not me ... But I crumbled earlier this year when I was so sick because I NEEDED help... and now NINE MONTHS LATER I am still paying the price ...

So now what are my immediate options? I have $1.96 in my bank account until tomorrow ... but my animals need water today... I have just one ... drive (using gas that I don't have, energy that I can ill afford, in a car that I've been desperately trying to save money to get the transmission serviced and a single new tire to simply drive safely) JUST TO PAY THEM WITH A BAD CHECK? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Okay so I decided to sit on this email til I got back -- just to see if I was still as upset and it just got worse ... so now I need to go over the bills with you .... in July they forwarded the $50 I refused to pay and billed me 5.56 for something so 55.56; in August they billed me 35.72 for a total of 90.98 (41 of that for actual services) -- so the next reading September 18 the bill amount was 37.48 for a total of 128.46 (of that roughly 78 is the actual bill ... still the 50 in the bill ... and it was today that I was told I needed to pay 90.98 on a card (ONLY) to get the water restored ... but I had to use a check so in the one hour from the time I was told 90.98 til the time I reached their drive through window the amount LEAPED to 178.46 to get my water restored (using a check at the drive-through). I was told, "you can in come and talk to someone" ... well I left my walker at home so could not go in to argue with them and was told "drive over there and wait and I'll send them an email" ... I explained to her I was off my oxygen just to drive there, dead on empty (my gas light was on) and it was hot as the dickens out and I was already told 90.98 if I paid today ...

Long and short?   I waited in a hot car at 1 p.m. (no gas so no AC) for 20 minutes (meanwhile I was also calling on my cell phone waiting, waiting, waiting AGAIN) when I decided to just pay and stop the check when I got home ... so I drove BACK to window (I am not kidding ... STILL holding on my cell phone) and was told "as a courtesy we will waive the $50 fee) EXCUSE ME? what about the FIRST $50 fee that I've been fighting about? but I paid 128.46 and at 7:00 p.m. still have no water. and I STILL do not think I should have to pay the first $50 ... I don't care what their policy is ... it's wrong.

Add to this the horrible customer service, the ridiculous management ... based on my CS encounters ALONE I'd fire everyone in that building and start from scratch. NEVER in all my years have I run across a worse utility than Cobb County Water Authority ... (to put that in perspective, I've had AOL and Comcast and Atlanta Gas Light in the past ... I am talking this bunch is tanked at the bottom of bottom-feeder pool) and my friends are quick to point out their own utility issues LOL so I can EASILY compare this to Gwinnett, Dekalb, Forsyth, even isolated Barrow County is better ... this is insane for a county that loves to bill itself as "progressive".

I worked all my life as a paralegal working FOR those who have been wronged by big business, survived three life-threatening illnesses to be treated like this? With this degree of disrespect?  to be talked to not once, not twice, not three times but REPEATEDLY in such a rude, discourteous manner?  I have been raped by this utility for what -- there have been ZERO improvements in their system so seriously for what? 35 THIRTY-FIVE years and they lump me in like a cranky "old customer" and this by a monopoly utility where I have absolutely NO CHOICE but to use them?  TRUST ME If I COULD change companies I would have a LONG LONG time ago.  I was so angry one summer that I boycotted them for three months and bought huge tubs that I filled up running a hose from a neighbors house LOL. I am the only person on the planet that will harm herself to make a statement.... but I am now too old to do that kind of thing ... not too old but too sick for sure LOL.

I am honestly so angry I'm having trouble breathing ... none of my "calm your heart down" techniques are working with this matter ... when did this become okay in American society?  When did we decide to just lay down and take this kind of abuse from a monopoly utility?

In my call for help to Channel 5 News in Atlanta this is what I added to this post:  Truthfully? You cannot fix this problem.  It is ingrained in the fabric of Cobb County Water Authority. Quite frankly I am paying for street lights that I hate ... I think most street lights should be abolished OR upgraded to "sky friendly" lights ... the sewer is also in that bill ... I get it that I have to pay for sewer based on water consumption but I'd rather pay more for water and get a) better service and management b) better street lights c) OMG better technology ... this is disgraceful a better online and call in system and d) a less discriminatory practice of raising money from late payments ... this is no joke ...

THIS COMPANY NEEDS TO BE AUDITED ... we are getting NOTHING for all the money we pay ...  they don't simply charge $50 to disconnect/reconnect ... they charge it even if they DON'T come out ... it that bill goes to the service department with a cut off notice ... even if you pay the bill BEFORE it is cut off ... you pay the $50 reconnect charge ... PLUS a $10 late fee ...  they are lining their coffers with money from the poor and elderly on fixed incomes.  Their Yelp reviews are in the toilet ... I am at my wits end with this "collection racket" they are running.

Short of blowing that building up and starting from scratch? I don't think you will BUDGE these zealots on their path to destroy the poor and elderly in Cobb County ... Try asking them how do I file a complaint and you are directed to  ... guess what? a freakin' supervisor ... color me fed up.

The Gospel according to Matthew: How to Predict Your Own Future

I have preached for years that everything is connected … not only is our past intrinsically tied to our present and future but we are tied to one another … we are connected whether we like it or not, whether you agree or not it is a fact. We may not CHOOSE to acknowledge and take advantage of that connectivity, even leverage that connectivity.  We may not choose to utilize that connectivity, we may not listen and learn from that connectivity but like it or not, everything is connected, it is there … if you think about it.

I'll even bet that like me, you can identify specific moments in your life when you made a decision (not did the deed but decided to DO the deed ... that point of no return) leave home, get a job, date someone, take something (pills alcohol anything), deliver an ultimatum to your boss, buy that car, truck, house, furniture … that INSTANT, I'll bet you can identify that instant which set in motion what would occur in your future … and the breakup, bankruptcy, car problems, job search, illness , recovery that you experienced is directly connected to the instant you said “imma do this ...” despite your girlfriend saying "I wouldn't say that to my supervisor if I were you" or your best friend saying “hey dude, wrong chick, wrong time man” or mama saying “that credit card is a BAD idea” or daddy saying “SERIOUSLY a Chevy?” for summa y'all that same Chevy backseat where you shared another bad idea LOL LOL … but all of this has a point … we can predict our own future and if you refuse to admit you can predict your OWN future, I'll bet you've “seen it coming” for someone else LOL and probably TOLD them so (with an ever so slight amount of glee) LOL.

I should have seen this coming or YOU should have seen this coming … how many times have we heard “I don't understand how he just broke up with me, I don't understand what happened with this relationship and we are sitting back thinking REALLY? We saw this coming three months ago or my favorite “Why am I always broke?” and EVERYONE around you is thinking “did I just hear you ask that question? How is that even possible that you don't know the answer?" Why can we see what they can't see … and why are our friends and family always able to say “I tried to warn you” --- some of it is perspective, you are pulling out from between two parked cars into the path of a truck but you can't see it … I across the street CAN see and I'm thinking “oh sh*t this is bad” … from my perspective I see it coming ….you actually DO NOT see it coming ... BUT there's more... yep, you STILL shoulda seen it coming .... 

Some of it (the part that is going to get your car smashed) is “prediction” based on experience … we've been there, we've seen someone do it before so we are better able (from our perspective) to see the truck coming or to make the connection “uh, oh yeah, I remember what happens when I do that” so we pretty much know what's going to happen when YOU do that same thing, in the same way and usually around the same age as we did LOL. It's the connection … to the past, present and future AND to one another.

But the thing I'm onto right now is our OWN predictors … a lot of times it's us … we have that little niggle “this is not my best moment” “do I REALLY want to do this?” I remember that moment clearly standing on the New River bridge one year strapped through the crotch and around my ankles by a rubber band … thinking "this is a very bad idea" ... CLEARLY and IF I'd splattered on the rocks below (which thankfully I did not) and lived I would have said “yep, I saw that sh*t coming” …. my gut warned me and I …... did …... not ….. listen. Again, thankfully, God wasn't quite finished with me yet LOL. Oh, oh, better yet, men. COUNTLESS times I have looked forward (based on my past) and said “this is wrong on so many levels” “this is a bad bad idea” and did it again anyway not LISTENING to MY OWN VOICE ... same time line months, years later “I knew it! I saw that coming a year ago” … and so it goes but how does this happen? How do we get so broken, so lost, so fast and seemingly "don't see it coming" when we should have? And worse, it's 100% avoidable and I'll get to that ...

Perhaps a bigger question is how do we get unlost before we get lost? Wouldn't that be nice?  Just hit the "back" key or "play again" ... but we don't know we are lost until we are paying the price.  Because the truth of the matter is we might be happy as lark, everything is going fine, got jobs, making money, having fun, got friends, and the next day it seems like the bottom drops out. Same way driving you are enjoying the scenery, or perhaps daydreaming and many miles and minutes later you have no earthly idea where you are … but when did you become lost? If you knew the instant you got lost you could just a) jump off and turn around or b) not get lost (see the irony).

A friend recently ended up in Athens GA trying to get to Stone Mountain (I don't have a CLUE how he did that LOL) but it was a drive he'd made dozens of times before and he said “I must have turned the wrong way on 29 or 124 or maybe it was when …..” he had no idea and at no point was he even concerned, just driving along lost in thought, until he noticed the “Athens 5 miles” sign never even realized he was GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. If it's that easy to get lost with road signs every mile and traffic patterns screaming “why is everyone going when I'm coming”, with billboards telling you exactly where you are and where you can get a Whopper Jr. or Big Mac imagine how easy it is to get lost on life's journey.

In life, by the time you REALIZE you're lost, by the time the consequences of your actions come home to roost, it's too late, you are already lost.  But you don't need a fix, you cannot fix yourself, you're not broken ... you need a new direction.  Your life, your day to day existence and happiness are not objects that can be glued back together ... they are the culimination of paths that you take in life, the right or wrong turns you made ... you need a new direction.

We arrive at that dark spot divorce, addiction, homelessness, bankruptcy, even facing jail and we want a solution, a fix “how do I fix this?” First, that's the wrong question .. the right question is where do I want to go from here. How do I get from here to WHERE I SHOULD BE? 

We get to where we SHOULD be exactly the same way we got to where we SHOULDN'T be … your driving along on a Sunday afternoon and look up realizing you're lost. You don't go to the country store and say I'm lost I need to be fixed … you ask for directions. We get back to where we belong by taking a new direction.

Second, anyone who says "well to fix this" ... run... or “if you'll do x, y and z” things will be better ... nope, nope, nope don't listen.  We don't need to be “fixed”.  What we ARE is what we take with us REGARDLESS of where we go ... it's the path we are choosing to walk that has gotten us so lost.  The warnings we failed to heed, the lessons we chose to ignore, the poor choices we made by failing to listen ... even to our own still small voice.  We can't be FIXED. We are far too complex and our lives are far too intertwined to be “fixed”. 

Following do x, y and z, the situation might get better (or not), it might get better for a while but chances are it won't because the person telling you how to "fix" yourself is not you. They are not in your moccasins, they don't know YOUR pain, YOUR dilemma, your personal CONNECTION to the situation. What you need is a new direction, a new path. You need to move and live in a new direction.  Find the kind of person you want to be, the life you want to live, the legacy you want to leave behind and literally LIVE in that direction.  While you are building the foundation of your life is NOT the time to go all "I don't give a f*ck"  THAT is how you become lost. 

The question remains how do we become unlost? What is the path we should take ... we know that we don't all take the same path yet some people are just fine they are happy, they have purpose, their lives have meaning regardless of how rich or poor, where they live, what they do for a living so where is the connection ... what do they have in common and how do WE find our OWN PATH, our OWN DIRECTION ... the one that will bring us happiness, that will fulfill us, sustain us, let us grow and thrive? 

Well oh what a shock ... Jesus left us a roadmap ... pages and pages of words that He spoke here on earth before sealing a New Covenant between God and all of mankind by conquering death before hundreds of eyewitnesses that documented these events.  And Matthew recorded the story that Jesus told, the parable that lays it out for us and He tells us to literally predict our own future at the end of that sermon.  

And even if you don't believe the Bible and not everyone does ... in fact a lot of people who DO believe the Bible don't read it and if they read it, they still don't follow Jesus, instead they follow "at it", they go to church on Sunday long enough to feel bad about themselves, feel guilty then go home and watch the game.  A lot of people have lost faith, they've followed the wrong path and are wondering WTF happened? Where am I? How did I get here? HOW DO I FIX THIS? and when they can't "fix it" they lose faith, they give up ... instead of finding the right directions to a fulfilled life right there in the Bible they no longer read.

BUT even if you don't believe Jesus is who He says He is, He STILL gave us instructions on how to live a great life, where we can feel whole, not hungry, empty and searching.  And in His final parable at the Sermon on the Mount he tell us EXACTLY how to find that path … how to predict our own future ... if we'd bother to listen. 

He makes it EASY for us to be happy … which begs the question (for me) why would ANYONE not WANT to follow Him? If the proven result is what it purports to be who would choose NOT to follow this path ... even if you don't follow the man, the Savior, and accept Him as Lord and Master heeding His advice, solid advice, just makes sense!!

But the story is … the path is described as Jesus closes out His Sermon on the Mount as written down by Matthew several years after Matthew was an eye-witness to Jesus' resurrection. and I will revise this post later and add that parable breaking it down item by item and word by word from it's Middle Eastern text/translation so it's “relevant” to … what year is this? LOL sooo.... to be continued.

Clinton Said It; Obama Said It; Is Trump Doing It?

NOT TAKING SIDES ... just sayin' We sit on the cusp of global war all the time ... we don't actually know how we would react OR how we want our leaders to react should a foreign nation attack ... What happens if a nation (large enough to do this) has been secretly plotting for years to invade us, like forever since WWII, biding their time ... waiting, waiting, waiting or even a sector of a nation an ultra wrong wing group ... with people already in place in-country sponsoring others over the years to also enter ... I personally want a government that is anticipating this. Call me paranoid but I want a government ready for every contingency. I don't feel one bit bad for wanting my government to arm us to the teeth ... SECRETLY. I want a government with flies on EVERY wall across the globe. Nukes in space? I will draw that line ... I'd love to see ALL nukes go away but kids that ain't happenin' and if you think it is? Go back to sleep, you're dreamin'.

On the other hand, just cause I gotta closet fulla guns don't mean I gotta blab it all over the neighborhood ... ya' see? But we have had people creeping over our borders for ages and ages and ages ... we need it to stop ... we don't need families being ripped apart ... I MEAN SERIOUSLY who in the f*ck do we think we are taking children from their mothers at the border? UAC my ass ... if you take the kids "into care" you oughta take their Mamas ... PERIOD. Deal with Daddy. I dunno the answer but I know the answer is NOT ignoring border security and immigration. I mean y'all really think we can stay strong as a nation if this keeps up? We need immigration but we need to be able to control immigration and do so humanely ... showing the world there is a right way to do it but a strong way. 

 

 

BEFORE I DIE ... Got the T-shirt and Google

BEFORE I DIE -- I should make this a series ... I'll bet I have a lot to say about a lot of things before I die and I am sure I'll keep finding things I want to do, say, be ... that is just human.

All in all, I have lived a pretty good life. Not the best. But oh SO not the worst. Never been rich LOL BUT never been poor (y'all do know what poor is, right? broke as you are, you ain't been there kids), suffered great losses but never lost my entire family, a child ... to me that is unimaginable ... my mind just cannot go there, I've seen a lot more than most and not as much as some and certainly enough that I am content with my memories. 

I've done just about every darned thing I ever truly wanted to "try at least once.  2/3 of my life my mantra was "I'll try anything once, twice if I like it" ... and that was like from birth LOL and I did peddle to the metal, balls to the wall, wide open if I had the vaguest notion "that might be fun" I was in ... danger didn't matter, hurting others was negotiable and it wasn't illegal unless you got caught.  From my first sip of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill to Patron shots at a very "dusty" party in the 80s, running drugs from south FL, to use your x-rated imaginations. I do not exaggerate when I say that in my life I have left no stone unturned in my pursuit of fun and sin and summa y'alls Mamas and Daddys can attest to that. 

I've done rocks no mountains, rivers no waterfalls, sailing no yachts, jumped off of and out of enough stationary and moving objects to satisfy my limited curiosity, driven a Lamborghini Diablo death defyingly fast at Road Atlanta (now that was HOT), learned to crochet, quilt, scrapbook, paint, throw pottery, weave a blanket, take and print beautiful photos (the old fashioned way), play tennis, backgammon, chess, a mean hand at poker and Operation.  

I have saved a life and had mine saved (more than a few times) and still wondering why ... I have lost everything more than a few times and come back stronger each time. I've loved and lost and loved again ... and again... and again ... a really lot Robert well two Roberts, Rick, Eddie, Gary, Mark, well y'all get the picture ... LOL. I'm tellin' y'all it's been a great ride!!!

I've now conquered more fears than I live with and I have returned home to my King, my Father my only true ally Jesus. the one person who has ALWAYS HAD MY BACK (even more so than my Mama) ... so for general purposes, I'm good. It's all good. BUT (always that but) with my advancing health condition there are a few concomitant items on my bucket list LOL. One is Google.  I ran across this image of one of Google's data centers.

I think I'd like to tour Google LOL ... and not with a tour guide, with someone who will answer questions LOL ... have you ever wondered how "in the hell do they do that"??? How do they get all that information, from wherever it's hiding and where does it reside in the interim? or does it ... does Google just magically grab it from somewhere and how in the hell do you search BILLIONS of pieces of data in nanoseconds ... I MEAN SERIOUSLY I'm not kidding here ... Furthermore, how does all that information get from some unknown place to me much less my f*ckin' phone??? And how do we sort the wheat from the chaff?  That's just insane to me. 

I kinda get it if I login to a specific place ... kinda ... no hell no I don't get it at all ... LOL. So Google if you're snooping you are on my bucket list LOL. Now that I am closer to death than not it's occurring to me how much I DO NOT know as opposed to how much I know ... somebody's surely said that before LOL ...

Kids are Off Limits ... or Are They?

God, I know I'm gonna regret this in the morning and I SO wish I were talking about a huge hangover, but nope, not me, I'm about to ... what's the phrase eat my own foot? bite myself in the a**? AH HA .... RANT!  Sooooo, I am a hard core Constitutionalist (with a heart), I have no political home, a poor, wayfaring stranger in a dark land divided ... and freedom of speech (oh for shock) is near and dear to my heart (whoda known) hardcore to the right, swimming in the Atlantic right wing Christian republican BUT (y'all see that comin'?) BUT if the FBI paid the Geek Squad to inform on child pornographers .... sorry .... we don't have the Constitutional right to break the law and the law is, kiddie porn just ain't right.  Right?  Our children, the generation we are entrusting the future of the human race to, are off limits.  Right?

I agree, kids are off limits ... but here is the rub ... and here is where EVERYBODY is going to hate me and shout my battle cry RANT .... if the FBI is paying for information a) are the employees fishing on devices looking for shit to sell? and b) doesn't this, by extension for evidence purposes, make Geek Squad agents of the FBI  - aren't they acting on behalf of the FBI to circumvent compliance with the 4th Amendment requirements regarding probable cause and unreasonable search?  

Not knowing all the facts, just taking this situation as reported on both left and right news, I'd be willing to bet the case at bar, Rettenmaier, will be tossed but worse, it's going to throw open the door to reopen cases over the past decade involving searches and seizures based on information found on electronic devices

Because of the FBI's serious lapse in judgment are we now going to see known offenders go free?  Would a little bit more surveillance and good old fashioned leg-work have spared the taxpayers the millions this is going to cost in legal and court fees?  Do our children mean so little to them that they are willing to risk cutting corners and bypassing the Constitution to achieve their goals?

This isn't a matter of stumbling upon child porn or electronic contraband or information about some ongoing crime ... this was buried information that required special software to access in a place on the drive where Geek Squad would have had no reason to be dicking around.  Taken as reported, in my opinion: "the glove don't fit, I'd have to acquit".  

In a civil suit, I'd have to see a WHOLE LOTTA evidence before I'd blame Geek Squad for employees selling information to those sneaky SOBs at the FBI ... policy manuals, notes and videos of training sessions, YEARS of employee reprimands and discharges for similar instances, something showing those specific employees had signed that they understood the policies, procedures used by employees, oversight by managers ... if Geek Squad had good labor and employment counsel on staff or on retainer they should have this one.  If not and somebody decides to sue them and they don't have a shit ton of paperwork to cover their behinds ... y'all can get rid of your Geek Squad stock now.

My reason for siding with the perv is pretty simple ... what is to keep them from digging into devices for hate speech, private expressions -- there are still some pretty archaic laws on the books in most states (regarding premarital sex, "deviant" sexual behavior and I'd imagine other stuff) what will keep the thought police from taking another inch? or going an inch too far ... or some backwater berg from using a precedent like this to enforce some of those ridiculous "private matter" laws?  These are dangerous precedents to set. 

Our forefathers put a LOT of thought into an enduring document. I'm not saying it should never change. It's a living, breathing, growing, changing, fluid concept. Our Constitution is brilliant and we should NEVER tamper with it lightly...and we must NEVER pick and choose to whom or in what situations it should apply.

GRANDMA'S STINGY AND GREAT GRANDMA'S CRAZY

I am becoming my grandmother when it comes to money and I remember saying as a kid I'd never be that tight with money, ever.   Now, I watch pennies LOL, well not QUITE that bad, but close.  To my great consternation, my bank is adding a $3 fee to the fee foreign ATMs already charge  -- and I was thinking SIX f*cking DOLLARS are you kidding me? a vision appeared of my grandmother .... that woman could tell you TO THE PENNY what she paid for a sack of flour and can of lard back in 1957 and my paternal grandmother was  not a dainty southern belle either. She was a big, tall, strapping woman, probably 5'10" in flats and she towered over us in her Sunday "pumps"... speaking of which, I am pretty sure if she earned $57.84 (the average weekly wage for women in 1957) she NEVER rounded up to 6.00 or even $5.80 in favor of the Lord in her Sunday tithe, God got His rightful $5.78.

And that flour and lard?  I can STILL hear her voice in a thick not quite South GA, not quite FL dialect

       "back, well 'hun  I b'lieve it'da been nineteen hunerd and fifty seb'n, Debbie Jean, mmm hmmm, nineteen and fifty seb'n" she'd slap her knee and continue with this strange exclamation -- never did figure out the source  "peeeee-heeeeee (yeah, that one) I paid a quarter and two pennies (holding up two fingers for added illustration), two WHOLE pennies.  Can you b'lieve that? ummmmm ummmmm ummmm."  (I can translate if necessary LOL)

Mamee was a trip. ... and STRONG?  People think Southern women are steel magnolias?  I guess some were and are but not Mamee, other than her incredibly green thumb and seriously, if she could have touched the clouds they'd have turned green , there was NOTHING flowery about her.  Large thick hands and feet, broad shoulders, wide hips MADE for bearing children, she was a ROCK, immovable in a storm and she raised her children with an iron fist (except one who came along late, VERY late in life ... he was a little older than me and the same age as my cousin, the son of their first born Inez and like most last, late children he was spoiled rotten. Again, I digress (good weed does that ... )

I am so sorry that my niece and nephews never really got to know her or my grandfather, and now my great nephews, nieces, the whole passel of them don't get to hear these wonderful stories about my grandparents (a little on both sides but heavily on my deeply damaged father's side).  The rift was so great, the family so fractured by mental illness (both diagnosed and undiagnosed) that the GOOD stories, the ones worth remembering and passing on, are all but dying.

Sure there was some shit, dirty laundry, creepy uncle stuff but there is also some rich, rich history there too.  I don't see the point in sharing far and wide, down through time, the dirt ... share it with a trusted few "family historians" and let THEM decide which generations and who to share it with ... it could be vital information in diagnosing dementia, Alzheimer's, pedophiles, heck, you never know we may one day be able to genetically manipulate violent behavior --- (God, we'll be bored to death) but seriously, a plethora of illnesses down the road.  It's high time mental came out of the closet and joined everyone else in the light ... but that's another blog/post.

Heaven forbid I or one of my kin -- the more distant the better -- goes on a shooting rampage ... we will need to blame it on someone so RIGHT NOW, this instant, if I decide to go out making a statement by doing something so completely insane as to slaughter a bunch of innocents, I'm blaming my great great grandmother ... damn I remember her but sooooo very vaguely.  She was already suffering from ??? dementia ??? when I was old enough to know who she was ... but bless her heart, I remember her being chastised because she had two different shoes on when we were getting ready for church one Sunday. I could NOT have been more than 4 or 5 years old --

AHHH, I digress --- I'M BLAMING NANA -- she died in in one of the "old school" state mental hospitals at Chattahoochee FL, which to this day has a horrid reputation for patient handling, abuse and neglect.  Truthfully, I was too young to comprehend the magnitude of what was transpiring, but I so remember the bitterly divisive arguments among the children (her grandchildren - my aunts, uncles and father, wow it just occurred to me that it was aunts and grandmother, my father and grandfather, my grandparent's youngest was my age).  I don't think that family was ever the same. My father used to say it changed him but BS, he was mean as a pit viper LONG before that. I hated him but I loved him ... I was 40 before any of it made any sense.... secrets. (another story LOL) ... but to this day I wonder what Nana had and what or how it might impact future generations ...

Aging, it's a HUGE looming scary problem for baby boomers and worse, we are now the meat in the stew, our kids are going to be asking "What are we going to do about Mom/Dad?"  (lightbulb: a blog on retirement communities)

After being accused or ranting (I am SO proud because I know if it pissed someone off someone was paying attention) I've decided to do this blogging thing again ... took me forever to find one it's been so long... now I have to figure out how to share these things.

GUNS GUNS EVERYWHERE ...

Well, I have been accused of ranting on FB because I disagree with the impassioned anti-gun group. First, because I disagree with you does not mean I am ranting ... anymore than suggesting that banning guns, banning the NRA, banning ANYTHING is a rant ... both are opinions. Furthermore, just because I am pro gun does NOT mean I am anti gun REFORM .... In point of fact, being on one side does not automatically preclude me from sharing similar ideas with people on another side - there IS substantial middle ground.... and until we COLLECTIVELY find and share that middle ground gun reform is dead in the water.

Second, if it actually IS ranting, it's not ranting to arm everyone and it's not ranting to outlaw guns --- it's ranting because this senseless slaughter of children and innocents pisses me off - not because they were killed with guns but because they were killed BY US for flatly REFUSING to even discuss SENSIBLE gun reform INCLUDING a full on assault against EVERYONE violating existing gun laws and UPDATING our national ability to track illegal firearms, guns used in crimes and seizures, etc. quickly and efficiently. I get why pro gun advocates don't like mandatory gun registration but if it saves even one single life of one single child isn't it worth at least considering? So I guess, yeah, maybe my middle of the road opinion that we are screwing the pooch on this one IS a rant but it's a rant for solutions that WORK-- not this f*cking bickering about being right or wrong..

Why, you ask, do I think it's dead if we stay divided into 2 factions a) arm everyone and b) ban guns? Because neither is going to happen in our lifetime and to believe otherwise is just foolish .... There are millions of gun owners who fall in that middle ground, responsible gun owners who have NOTHING to do with the current politicized NRA (rather than the old NRA which touted gun safety and responsible gun ownership). Men and women who own guns but also see how our world has changed from responsible leadership and parenting to a society that glorifies violence and let's kids raise themselves with the assistance of XBox, Netflix and cable TV. Gun owners who see a society that systematically desensitizes our youth to the reality of death. Gun owners who see a society so bitterly divided over the issue that they are afraid to even voice a moderately dissenting opinion for fear of being labeled by "the other side" and slammed squarely into the "right wing gun nut" category. Gun owners who see reasonable solutions that fall into both classes but don't want to speak out for fear of being accused of RANTING ...

This subject does not have to be as divisive as the two warring factions are making it and it does not have to mean an all or none ultimatum but we will continue to see blood shed, children die, innocents slaughtered and NO change if we keep this my way or the highway attitude. BOTH sides -the far right (all guns, all the time) AND the far left (no guns, ever) are responsible for this mess because NEITHER side is listening to reason, thinking through and DISCUSSING the problem and instead are reacting emotionally with criticism and judgment. Middle ground gun "advocates" who have no problem with gun reform (like myself) seem to have no place in this debate at all, yet we are the ones making the most common sense in the matter.

Resorting to name calling, accusing dissenters (on either side) of ranting, closing minds to REASONABLE solutions and planting yourself firmly in an all or none foundation will NEVER solve this problem and I don't care if Australia, Canada, the UK or Japan banned guns and it worked or DID NOT work ... we are not Australians or Canadians. We don't think like them, we don't live like they do or educate our children in the same manner, we don't have the same histories of breaking free from "tyrannical" governments, and although we have similar social issues they don't have social issues to the same extent that we face... but we CAN learn from them and maybe come up with ideas that won't alienate one another on the gun issue but I think I can safely promise that NOTHING -- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will get done as long as the middle grounders are silent .... and as long as we try to silence dissenting opinions.

Elie Wiesel, writer, activist and Nobel Laureate and former prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps said it best. “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” I am on the side of the slaughtered and those who I can guarantee WILL BE slaughtered if the millions of sensible gun owners remain silent and refuse to take a stand for responsible gun ownership and REASONABLE gun control laws including unrelenting enforcement of existing gun laws.