The Spitting of Tobacco

When I was young, I thought the only living creatures that spit tobacco were grasshoppers. My brother Bill and I would catch them and hold them so their wings were closed, then look them in the eye and say, "Spit some tobacco or I'll kill you." Now I don't know where that came from, and though there wasn't any killing involved, the words certainly sounded violent. Eventually, the grasshoppers would exude a brownish-colored liquid from their mouths and then we would let them go. I found out later that people can also spit tobacco when we visited one of my father's co-workers in West Virginia.

We had traveled to the Shenandoah Valley the day before and stayed overnight at one of those forerunners of the strip motel, the small one-room cottage. When we left early the next morning and traveled up into the mountains, my father told us that soon we would be going through a cloud. Bill and I were excited about that prospect. However, when we actually passed through the cloud we were a bit disappointed because it looked just like fog. We did feel as though we had done something extraordinary, as driving through a cloud sounded like something ordinary people just didn't do.

We drove for several hours through valleys and steep mountains, and finally reached Harmon, West Virginia, in early afternoon. When we found the family we were looking for, their house was one of several small bungaloes crowded together at the summit of a mountain. The houses couldn't have been any closer to the road, and there was junk everywhere around them. The people who lived in the houses were all related, and the grandparents resided with the family we were visiting. The house had unfinished wood floors, and not a lot of furniture. The grandmother sat in a rocking chair in the center of the room, and obviously was the matriarch of the family. Not long after introductions, my brother and I were shocked to notice the grandmother spit into a coffee can sitting on the floor next to her chair. It happened so suddenly and her aim was so accurate that we couldn't believe our eyes. We looked at our mother and saw that warning look only she could give, meaning we were to keep quiet. This, of course, only enhanced the curiosity and surprise we were feeling, and the next time the grandmother spat into the can, Bill and I had to go outside because we were taken with fits of giggles. We stayed outside until Mom and Dad were ready to leave, and as soon as we got into the car, we started asking questions. Mom told us the grandmother was using snuff and that's why she was spitting into the can. She also said this was a fairly common practice among older women in some areas of the country.

I haven't seen any women chewing since, just men. Everyone seems to know or know of a woman who chewed at one time or another, though. I don't know if this was common practice in other areas of the country, or was just particular to Appalachia.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...not good for a Libra!

The title of this blog says it all: a Libra doesn't handle decisions quickly or impulsively. We have to weigh everything, list all the pros and cons, back and forth, back and forth, until we finally reach a decision that is almost always the right one at the time.

Now I could be smug about that last part, saying the decision is always the right one. However, it just 'ain't' so. I've made more than my share of mistakes.

I wakened very early this morning because of a decision I had to make - I couldn't sleep for thinking about it. The decision to be made? Whether or not to move into a smaller place to live. I made a pot of coffee and sat down with paper and pen. I made sketches and lists. I added up costs and expenses and compared the new place against the present house. After my second cup of java, the decision was made. I am not going to take the new place, much as I want to move from my present house. The new place is less money per month, and probably costs less to heat. It has lots of parking and is air conditioned. But it is so small! I would have to use the garage as a studio and workout room, and that would be fine except there isn't any access to the garage from the living space. I would have to go outside and down around the building to the back to gain access to the garage. I know myself. In the cold, cold winter with lots of snow and ice, I would probably skip the workouts and making art. I would also have to shovel the rather long driveway in the winter.

I would have to store things like my china closet, bookcase, most of my artwork and pottery, some other furniture, art supplies and workout equipment. All would have to stay in the garage. My washer and dryer would have to be kept and used in the kitchen/dining area. That wouldn't be too bad, but it makes the space that much smaller.

So I continue to search for something that suits me. I'm not hard to please, but this living in town in such close proximity to neighbors is not acceptable. I have a nutty and nebby next door neighbor who is scary, to say the least. He gives me the creeps and he is getting worse. I like my privacy and don't like someone trying to peer into my living space! Too bad it is so hard to control one's environment!

Not a Coincidence

Ok, I'm off the politics for a minute. Truthfully, I am absolutely SICK of the whole campaign. Tired of the lying and exaggerating on both sides of the election. Tired of the financial fiasco the markets are experiencing. Tired of the government bailing out those who are wealthy or those who purchased homes WAY out of their means. Why do the rest of us have to pay for the greed and credit overextensions of those who now find themselves losing their homes? I am inclined to think Bush's pronouncement today of the bail-out by the government is protecting HIM and HIS. Am I wrong?

I know I said I was not talking politics and there I did it again. Just can't help myself. Be glad you aren't in my presence and being forced to HEAR all this talk.

Today, I planned to go to a fishing tournament at Roaring Run, but changed my mind. There will probably be a slew of people there and I am not inclined to get my fishing lines entangled with anyone else's. My computer has been acting extremely slow and sluggish to the point of frustration. I know I should just format the hard drive and start over, but that takes so much time. Right now, I hate to spend my time doing that when there won't be many nice days left this year, not in this climate.

Tomorrow I am supposed to walk in the Diabetes Walk, and I am not looking forward to that, either. It is a 2 mile walk, and I am up to 1 mile being comfortable. But I will probably do it.

Yesterday, I had a very nice day with an older friend who lived nearby when I was growing up. We have established a friendship, though she is almost 20 years older than I am. Wonderfully bright lady who is totally in touch with society, despite her age. At the same time, a younger woman who began to write to me on myspace (because her sister was once an employee of mine), and I have realized what a small world it is. It seems her father-in-law grew up next door to me - about a half-mile away, actually - and when he married the first time, he lived across the road from us - about a quarter-mile. I used to babysit his daughters from his first marriage. Apparently, he had children in his second marriage, and this young woman is married to his son. These happy little coincidences never cease to amaze me. Actually, I believe there is a reason for them. I don't believe there are any coincidences in this world. It is far more complicated, and far more spiritual than that.

The World is Going to the Dogs (or Pigs)

I have been remiss in my posting lately. So much is going on in the political world that it is difficult to pull one's self away from the tv or the computer. It is equally difficult to not become enraged at some of the obnoxious postings online. I believe many of the often nearly illiterate posters who are writing such vile lies are paid-to-post "employees". If not, then I fear our education system has truly failed in educating students, not only in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure, but also in how to think. Most of the anti-Palin comments are of such a low nature that I worry about just how far our society has sunken.

Only worse is the media capitalizing on some of the worst of these allegations. Whoever said a requirement for President or Vice-President was a squeaky-clean, unblemished background? If that were true, we wouldn't have had any of our former Presidents, save Jimmy Carter (whose conscience made him confess to immoral thoughts). In the case of Sarah Palin, these nasty comments are directed toward her daughter. Does everyone honestly believe former presidential or vice-presidential children never have done anything immoral? And what constitutes immorality? The Bush twins drinking? Their father's use of drugs and alcohol when younger? Bill Clinton's indiscretions? JFK's infidelities? How about Obama's admitted use of crack cocaine and marijuana? Rembember the old saying, "Only the good girls get caught"? Don't you think the children of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of this country are carefully taught, watched and protected? It seems as if children in the White House since JFK's term have been girls, girls who don't often have unsupervised time.

As for the male presidents or wannabees, and I don't care whose name is brought up, the truth remains: wealthy, powerful men have lots of women at their beck and call. It's as true today as it was in the 15th century. We have such a schizophrenic society when it comes to morals.

As for experience, why does Obama feel he has to compare himself to Sarah Palin? Isn't he running against McCain? The more I see of Obama the more I realize he doesn't have the fortitude and strength to be the leader of the free world. He is a trained attorney, as are his wife and his vice-presidential candidate. Only a few years ago, our society was attacking attorneys as being the scourge of the earth. Now it isn't mentioned. A trained attorney knows how to manipulate people with his/her words. The words don't even have to have much meaning, they just need to SOUND like they do. This is what Obama does - he uses the vocabulary which I have certainly heard many times by those who really don't have anything to say of value. Don't confuse the two, because they are different. Anyone can memorize words and phrases. Not everyone can come up with genuinely new, intellectually meaningful words that can impact the world. Do not be deceived by the false rhetoric. There are forces at work in this election that surpass just looking at the next four years in our government.

Wow...the Republican Convention rocked last night! From the governor of Hawaii, to Mike Huckabee and Rudy Guiliani, and finally to Sarah Palin -- they each delivered the message in a wonderful way. I am sure the vast majority of those watching felt as I did, that one of our own was up there speaking and leading a party for the first time in recent memory. Everyone else who is running lives a privileged life. Sarah seems so all-American normal.

The sight of her youngest daughter holding the baby and licking her hand before using it to smooth the baby's hair was absolutely delightful and obviously unscripted. And so like something that happens in an average family. There wasn't any pre-prompting of kids in this venue, as there seemed to be when Michelle Obama spoke to the Democratic convention. The Obama's youngest seemed a bit too precious and very much too obvious, and I felt uncomfortable with her grabbing the microphone and the attention several times.

Anyway, the word of the day, or the season, is "ZERO". I liked that a lot. I also like the media today recognizing the genius of McCain's selection for VP and the spectacular advent of Sarah Palin. It is as if the Media people are finally connecting with the average American.

Viva McCain and Palin!

I write this with a great sigh of relief. Yesterday, I was thrilled when I watched Sarah Palin accept the number two spot on the Republican ticket. Over the years, I have admired John McCain's maverick persona and to see him choose one of the same and a woman to boot, is exciting.

Today I listen to the media trying to find chinks in her armor. My belief is that the leftist media commentators should exert some of their misplaced energies toward investigating how Obama REALLY got where he is. Investigate further his association with William Ayers. http://www.sodahead.com/blogs/user/238181/category/8/?tko=blog_categories Consider his association with his extremely racist pastor. I personally have left churches where the words spoken by the pastor didn't fit my own philosophy of religion and understanding of the Bible.

People are calling me a racist for my decision to vote Republican instead of Democratic on November 4. To those people I say this: what is the difference between those voters (many of whom have never voted before) who are voting for Obama based on his race alone, and my voting for a senior citizen with an McC surname who has a FEMALE vice-presidential candidate? After all, I am only six years younger than John McCain, my birth surname is McCollim, and I am a woman. Yes, I am white also, which is, after all, an accident of birth the same as my name, my sex, my age.

Here's to Hillary!

Absolutely no one could address the DNC better than did Hillary Clinton last night. No one! And all I can say is this: there is going to come a day when all those who engineered her infinitesimal loss in the primary and all those who fell for the fanciful, yet empty, rhetoric of her opponent will realize the great mistake which has been made. Just as a very slim majority voted for Bush in the last two elections, so too has that majority come to realize the great error it made.

Thus, for the first time in my adult life, I will vote Republican for President of the United States. I don't like having to do that, but I am absolutely certain that John McCain has the experience and knowledge that Obama does not possess. McCain doesn't have an ax to grind with the citizens of this country nor does he need to prove something to the world. Nor does he possess the hubris to have assumed before the fact that he would be the next President of the United States. It appears as though Obama does possess a great amount of arrogance. That will not be loved by the American people.

I still believe a woman should have been nominated for President before any of the minorities in this country. And had Hillary been permitted to count all the primary votes, she would have won the nomination. Now, in the convention, those uncounted states are counted after the fact. Who were the men who decided a woman should not be president, and why? We won't know in this generation, but someday political scientists will delve into all that which is hidden from us now and they will tell the truth.