You can easily judge the character of a man....

I
 I found this on face book and it struck me as one of the truest things I have ever read.  To often in this dog eat dog I find even myself cow towing to the one who can give me the favors that I want.  But always it seems when I get caught up in the day to day existence and become embroiled in the fight for the almighty dollar, something will jar me back to reality.  Like this little rabbit!  Have you ever seen anything more helpless in your life?
 Having grown up in the country, not on a farm actually, but kind of was, we raised rabbits.  Or I should say Mother raised rabbits. That was back in the good old days when there were not all the nitrates and nitrites in the grain supply and it was a simple matter of letting the rabbits breed and then the doe would give birth and raise the babies.  Course we would eat them, but that is what you do on a farm.  But the period between when the babies were born and the landed on the dinner plate, we could play with them.  At first they did not have their eyes open and were completely helpless.
 Now, I must interject a little story here and this will no doubt make my sister Donna mad, but facts are facts.  We knew we were not supposed to  hold the little bunnies until their eyes were open and then we must be very gentle with them.  Well, Sister Donna really loved those bunnies and she held one a little tighter than she should have.  When she saw it was not moving she thought it might be sick so she took it and put it in a dresser drawer and covered it up with a handkerchief to keep it warm.  And of course when Momma came home, she knew one was missing and me being the good daughter showed her where it was.  I thought Donna should have been beat unmercifully, but mother used it as a learning experience.  Good mother's do that, you know.
 Oh, the little rabbit brings back so many memories.  We had chickens and they lived in a coop out back, but they were allowed to run loose.  One day there was a button with a string and the chicken pecked the button and the string stayed outside.  Course I was inconsolable.  Little note here; we were little ragamuffin kids running around with no shoes on and we tended to worry about some of the damnedest  things.  Much of my life was spent worrying about one thing or another, and I was the biggest tattletale you ever saw.  I used to get up on the chicken coop and jump off and try to fly.  I never could figure out why that did not work.  I had a dish towel tied around my neck and everything!  We ran up the road to Vincent's sand pit.  Since none of us could swim, we got in trouble over that one. 
 It was always great when school started cause the ladies at the church would make sure we all had dresses to wear.  And we all got a new pair of shoes.  That was rather a mixed blessing cause I did not like shoes.  Still don't.  But it was one of those necessary evils.  And we had to wear them until the weather got nice in the spring.  By that time we had usually grown out of them, but everyone passed theirs down to a younger kid.  Rather sucked that my older sibling was my brother.  So I did not wear shoes for the last couple months of school.  My God!  If we tried that now the teachers would be aghast.
 There were 6 of us little urchins and we all left our childhood behind with a different perception of the reality of the experience.  I never tire of revisiting my childhood.  As I recall, we lived in pretty much abject poverty.  We did not have indoor plumbing until we moved to Hutchinson when I was 16.  We heated with wood and pumped water in the kitchen.  We took a bath in a galvanized tub on Saturday night.  Seems like we had kerosene lanterns, but I recall electric also.  That confuses me.  We usually had meat on Sunday and Carp and fried apples was regular fare.  Oh, dear, let's don't go there!
 I have this little rabbit as my background on my computer so I can remember that I am not king of the hill and that there are people out there who really need me to be strong for them.  But you know, sometimes I just wish I were one who could let some one else fight the battle, sometimes.  I am getting better at it.

Well, of course this was a mistake on my part, but I think I will just leave it as it is.!

Yesterday was one cent auction listings on eBay.  So like the good little shop keeper I profess to be, I got busy listing.  Listed 17 items.  Strangely enough most of them were not even looked at, but two of them began pulling in the lookers right away.  I was kind of surprised to see that I had 78 views by the time I went to bed.  I was amazed when I got up this morning and the new totals were 358 on one and 347 on the other.  I just peeked and one is setting at 948 and the other at 957.  Less than 24 hours.  Since I am a fairly intelligent woman I immediately thought the counter was screwed up.  That is until I took a closer look at the titles.
  See when you list you are supposed to be very descriptive so people can readily type in a few words and find your item, or one like it.  My items are both completely worthless plastic bead necklaces, so I  wrote "3 strings of plastic beads worthless to the naked eye as well as to the experienced."  Sounds very descriptive and honest to me.  But what if I were looking for something else and typed in "worthless, naked, experienced".  I would no doubt come up with something else and would be very surprised to find myself looking at plastic beads.
  So there you have my lesson for the day in how to attract lookers to your listings on eBay.  Now I have had no bids so I am pretty sure that the people purusing my site are not looking for a necklace!  Funny the things that come out of our mouths without a thought until some one calls our attention to it.
  Just wanted to share that with you.

So this is a Pheasant Farm!

I think if you click on that you will see the captions and it will get big.  Course I have been wrong before and Google does have a mind of it's own.  That being said, this is a Pheasant Farm along Highway 50 in Western Kansas.  And I want you to know that I took these pictures while driving with the passenger window down.  Course there was no traffic and I had slowed to a crawl.
  Now I am no stranger to things like this, but I thought you might find it interesting.  See way back  before I moved to Colorado the kid's dad bought 10 acres in Deerfield, Kansas.  Now I moved to Colorado in 1977 so we are talking 35 years ago.  He had a vision at that time of becoming a host on a game farm.  I must say he did pretty good at it.  He moved onto the 10 acres and built a "Club House" along with Pheasant Pens.  I do not kow how many birds he had, but I do know how this worked.
  When Pheasant season was upon him, the "hunters"  would come up from Texas and stay in the Club House.  I think he did most of the cooking.  A real "Man Retreat" there!  When it came time for the hunt the allotted number of birds were released and the hunters shot them!  As the birds were cleaned, they began their "celebration".   The Texan's got their game and a great vacation and he made money.  It was a match made in heaven.
  I must interject here. How many of you have ever eaten wild game that was hunted and shot?  We are talking about a bird that while beautiful is about the size of a chicken.  They live in the wild and fly and run so they are very tough.  Might as well throw the wings and legs away.  They are shot with a shotgun.  Now those "BB's" travel into the bird carrying feathers.  So think about that a minute.  I do not know how much time I spent as a young wife spitting feathers at the supper table. But such was the lot of a frontiersman's wife and children.
  After Earl D. passed the kids remained on the land.  Or at least some of them.  The daughters.  They did try to keep the Pheasant business alive but only for a brief time.  The Club House was used for family dinners, but that got to be more work than fun so now it sets idle.  Kind of sad the way time marches on, isn't it?

Cesar Chavez as seen by Octavia Ocampo.

As you know, Cesar Chavez is the American Farm Worker who was a Labor Leader and Civil Rights Worker for the American Farm Worker.  Along with Delores Huerta he founded the United Farm Workers Union which gave collective bargaining rights to the men and women who work in the fields to harvest your food.

He was born on March 31, 1927 and passed on April 23, 1993.

Portrait of LaCausa

Please click on an image to enlarge the area so you can clearly see what I am talking about.

I want to give you a close look at this print which hangs in Sister Nancy's office.  It is by Octavia Ocampo.  It shows what at first appear to be human skulls, but upon closer examination you see the are human beings placed to look like skulls. The farm workers have long been the neglected in our country.  Would you work in a field in the blazing sun all day?  What if you had absolutely no choice?  Farm workers are some of the poorest of the poor and a hand up is not the same as a hand out.

  

The farm workers cause was a very long and while Chavez tried to keep it peaceful with his Ghandi philosophy, it did not always turn out that way.

I now leave you to study this print and see if you are as moved by this work as I was.  When you eat your salad tonight or your veggies tomorrow, think of Cesar and the millions of farm workers who are responsible for getting it to your table.

El Centro de Los Pobres and the Preacher came through!

So you are not going to get the slide show, but you can click here to see the album

I do hope there is a slide show up there.  If not it might turn up later.  Google; gotta love them.  Last Thursday Pastor Faye Gallegos, Pastor Max and his wife Pastor Maurine Hale, and Pastor Frank  Jopp and his wife, Elfreida came to Pueblo to the El Centro de Los Pobres. That translates to The Center for the Poor.  It is located in Avondale and is a wonderful haven ran by a child of God named Sister Nancy.  It is for the migrant workers and their families.  The center is manned by only volunteers.  No paid staff at all.  Volunteers include Doctors, nurses, dentist, and people who donate what ever service is needed.  Donated clothing is separated and given to who ever needs it.  Food is portioned out equally to the families.  If you want to learn more you can call or visit the place.  719-947-3109.  Los Pobres Center, 212 East Hwy 50, Avondale, Colorado  81022.
  I am here to tell you two things.  The playground and the only place the kids had to play was destroyed by a storm.  Pastor Faye Gallegos, whom many of you know as my "preacher friend in the Springs" was touched to build a new playground and that is what she set out to do.  She sent letters to her friends.  She did not want to infringe on any entity except her circle of friends.  I am proud to be called a friend by this woman of God.  And, like everything she sets out to do, she accomplished this task.  Last Thursday, October 6, 2011, she arrived at The Center for the Poor and presented Sister Nancy with the monies collected for the playground.  Mission accomplished once more!

Sister Nancy then gave us the grand tour since the other Pastors had not had it yet.  And that is when the full realization of what this place is about hit me.  See this computer?  It is hooked directly to the prison.  Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?  What is it's purpose?  Women come in at a prearranged time and can visit face to face via the web cam with their husbands.  Kids can talk to daddy.  This is the only contact they have with their loved ones and is the last contact before the men are deported.      Why were these men stopped by the police?  Maybe a broken tail light, or jay walking or just about anything.  The important part is they have no papers and are in this country illegally.  Pastor Maureen had an especially hard time grasping the idea that a simple thing like this could be pretty much a death sentence to the family.  The men are deported back to Mexico.  The women and children are here illegally and so have no rights at all.  They can go home.  How?  They can not move freely as they are illegal, and probably have no money.  Many of the children have never known a home outside of this county.  Mexico? Some of them have never even heard of Mexico.  Kids are given schooling and such until they reach the age of  16(?) and then they are granted status of "Illegal Immigrant" and then they are subject to deportation.
   Seems like a few years back Pueblo County cracked down on the illegals that worked the fields.  Big roundups and back to Mexico with you, buddy.  Know what happened?  Crops rotted in the fields.  City people are not going to work in the blazing sun all day for the pittance the farmers pay.  They want a job with benefits.  And air conditioning.  Lunch breaks. Oh,yeah and insurance, paid vacation, sick days, etc, etc.  I know it is a dark, shadowy world and I know that emotions run high when we talk of closing the borders.  Hey!  I was right there with you on that, but I have had to rethink the whole thing.  I finally realized that what ever the pros and cons to the subject are, we are still dealing with human beings.  Flesh and blood men, women and innocent children who had no choice in anything that has befallen them.  Men and women come to this country seeking the illusive golden ring; children are by products of the system.
  But at least out in Avondale at the El Centro de Los Pobres (The Center for the Poor) there are children who for a few hours will have a place to play and a field to dream dreams, thank to people like Pastor Faye and Sister Nancy. 

As you have done this to the least of these my brethern, you have done it unto me.

Just a note to let you know.

Just want to let my friends know that I will not be participating in the SCAP Walk in the Garden which is this Saturday.  I raised my money, but in the process became disenchanted with the process.  After much deliberation I want to say that the Southern Colorado AIDS Project, while a worthy endeavor, is no longer a fit for me.  I will continue to do the Social Luncheons once a month, but there is where my allegiance will end.
I wish them well and my best to all the clients.  Better days ahead I am sure.
There is an old saying I learned at my mother's knee..."It isn't whether you win or lose, but how you play the game."  I choose to take the high road.

Why is a cross "CROSS WALK YIELD TO PEDESTRIANS"?

 Yesterday I had the scare of my young life.  I was driving across town to meet a friend for coffee and a planning session and came upon a cross walk in front of the Library.  You know, the one on Abriendo where there are two lanes of traffic going each way.  I was in the right hand lane and I noticed a pedestrian waiting to cross so out of habit, if no other reason, I stopped.  The car behind me stopped.  The man crossed in front of my car and just as he crossed my line of sight my peripheral vision caught a speeding car on my left.  I sat frozen in horror as the SUV sped past me and the man in the crosswalk froze in mid step and jumped backwards.  Had he finished that step he would have been slaughtered. The tan SUV continued on down the street oblivious to the catastrophe she had nearly created.  But who was really to blame here? 
 First on the scene was the pedestrian.  Had he not wanted to cross the street there never would have been a series of events to lead to tragedy.  Had he just stayed in the Library all would have been well.  And when I stopped he should never have trusted me.  He has no idea who I am.
 Second on the scene was me.  I stopped because it says "CROSS WALK YIELD TO PEDESTRIANS."  I thought that was a law and was to be obeyed.  Silly me!
 Third was the lady in the SUV.  In my humble opinion both lanes of traffic should stop for the cross walk.  If you are going to propel a ton of steel down the street where people are walking you ought to at very least pay attention to your surroundings.  If you are driving down the street and see two cars stopped in your lane, the answer is not to change lanes and speed up  and pass.  The answer is to check your surroundings and proceed with caution.  I am sure when you took your drivers test there was a question on there about pedestrians and the right of way.
 Now let's just put the blame where it really goes, the street department.  They put those signs up.  Why?  Oh they thought someone might look at them and obey what they said. What has happened is that they are giving a false sense of security to a vulnerable human body.  Everyone knows that the pedestrian has the right of way.  Sure they do.  Every where except in Pueblo, Colorado, that is.  Here they are just targets and cross walks are the field of play.  Fortunately they know this.   If they did not know it, they would just walk across the street and feel safe, but they know in this part of the world that they are the target.
 True, ever so often the police put up a reminder that the pedestrian has the right of way in the cross walk, but they do nothing about failure to yield.  They just move the sign some where else.  I was going to the Pantry one day and using that same cross walk.  I had parked by the Library and was trying to get across the street using the cross walk.  I stood there with a policeman and watched the cars zip by without even slowing.  I turned to him and said "Aren't we supposed to have the right of way?"  His reply was a simple, "Yep".  So if our men in blue do not care, why should I?  Why should I stop and let some guy think he can actually cross the street safely?  Seems I was just setting him up on that one.
 I must admit that I slept very little last night and when I did I woke up in a cold sweat seeing that man's face.  So now the question is what do I do about this?  I feel I must do something.  So here is this blog.  Now I will write a letter to the editor that I know no one will read.  Maybe I will go pay a visit to the local gestapo and ask them how we can make our city a safer place to walk.
 There you have it, my thoughts for today.