Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Excuse the dust...

as I settle back in here, please?

The time away from here was interesting and not just the "net withdrawals" though they were in abundance, along with the worrying and wondering about each of you. Between a very sore wife sleeping on the couch in the living room and a very sick dog not understanding why her body was letting her down, the first two weeks were especially rough. Having to scoop the dog up with a sheet and carry her outside once she could sit up again after what I still think was a stroke was awkward for both of us, though she was grateful not to be "messing" herself and having me trying to clean up her and our (thankfully bare) floor.

She has gradually regained about 85% of her use of her hindquarters, is very stiff turning one direction and her head still lists as she gets tired; I'm very much hoping we don't get much ice this winter as her hips roll one way or the other without warning and I fear her "going down" on the ice like the German Shepard we had that had belonged to Dottie's Mom.

Dottie finally moved back into our bed last week, fearing if she slept on her side before she was mostly healed the "mesh" they sewed into her would not heal evenly. She was very grateful to be off the couch when she finally did and with the arthritis that has settled into her back, very grateful to be off of it! She returned to work yesterday and came home very sore, but OK.

There was a lot of quiet time that first few weeks when she would "nod off" for a while and so I started a book I'd had put away for many years, having spent more time reading shorter and lighter things. I stayed up on "current events" by leaving the TV in our bedroom on as I cooked and cleaned and such, with it set on "closed captions". Some of what I was reading intersected with those current events in ways I never dreamt of!

"The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is made up of fine men, honest, and mean well and if it was water they were distributing it would help the people it was meant to help. For water goes down hill and moistens everything on its way, but gold or money goes uphill. The Reconstruction loaned the railroads money, medium and small banks money, and all they did with it was pay off what they owed to the New York banks. So the money went uphill instead of down. You can drop a bag of gold in Death Valley, which is below sea level, and before Saturday it will be home to papa J.P. [Morgan]."

Will Rogers, 1933

Whether you look at the money that was supposed to take care of refinancing the homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure; the auto industry bailouts; the credit card companies raising our rates and such; the billions of dollars profit that the health care industry is making while they fight any change to the status quo; the Wall Street companies paying bonuses to their execs...old Will seems to be pretty spot on!

I was thinking last night that the last time we saw real "for the people" changes come from Congress it was what L.B.J. called the "Great Society" legislation. Perhaps if we called healthcare reform "The Healthy Society Act" or something similar the it might be more palatable to that "upper crust" who think they're the only ones entitled to society...it's so funny to hear them screaming that healthcare reform might change Medicare when they fought tooth and nail to keep Medicare from passing all those years ago!

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

12 comments:

robin andrea said...

That's quite a fine Will Roger's quote. He certainly knew what he was talking about. I guess what's true is that for the most part things stay the same. The rich are really okay with owning everything and letting the rest of us suffer.

I hope Dottie's recovery continues, and your pup regains more use of her hind legs.

Anonymous said...

The finance world is frightening to me and so beyond my scope of knowledge that it makes it hard for me to even comment except to say that I am sorry to hear that it is affecting so many good hard working people in such a tragic way.

Glad to see you back friend. Cant wait for the rest of your dust to settle. hugs

Hawaiianmark said...

Dust can always be cleaned.

You take 'em easy; and keep those ones close as close can be.

Aloha.

Anji said...

Good to see you back and I owe you an email.

It seems that things never really change and they never learn. It just goes much faster today.

Teresa said...

Ah, yes, Will had a wonderful way with words and cut right to the bone with them. But I suppose we're stuck with the rich being inhumane bloodsuckers since few of us would survive at all outside of their fixed game.

CrackerLilo said...

I am so, so, so glad that Dottie and your dog are both recovering!

For the past couple weeks, ever since the Dow broke 10,000 again, I have uttered things along the lines of, "Some people are like flies and cockroaches. They can always do well and they do even better when lots of people are hurting." Will Rogers put it much better. I wish more had changed since his day.

Can we have freedom to start our businesses and buy what we want within reason and move around, and also have most people able to provide for their own needs and save a little by their own work? Can those of us who are particularly gifted and/or hard-working get rewarded financially for all the jobs and societal benefits they create without outright greed and evil also getting rewarded in the process? I'd love to see that. Unfortunately, a powerful few wouldn't, it seems. (I haven't done any blogging of my own lately, so I'm doing it in your comments. Sorry!)

So glad you're back, honey. *hugs*

Lucie G said...

*passes a good duster*
Good to hear Dottie and your dog are on the mend :)
Lucy x

Sassy said...

Poor Dottie. Poor dog!

Green tea said...

I'm glad Dottie is better.
You are right about LBJ..he was a tough old couger and like him or not he did get things done until he got caught up in the Vietnam war.
I am afraid if Obama doesn't grow some gonads and kick a few Butts..he is going to find him self in the same boat.
He has the majority to get things done and it is time he quit playing nice guy with the Republicans that want him to fail.

Angeline Rose Larimer said...

Everybody beat me to the best comments.
I like Cracker's quote just as much, though.
Just keep on recovering. We will start from our own homes, and work our way back out through society.

ryssee said...

Great to see an update! Glad to hear that both Dottie and your pup are feeling better. I think you never get back to 100% but most of the way there is pretty darned good.
Great quote and analysis from you.
Oh, we rented a Malibu the other day-we had our pick of makes/models from Alamo-I picked the Malibu just in case you worked on it :-)

Doris said...

Gosh, you have had a really rough time Alan. I hope things are much better and easier now. xxx