I am definitely blogging lite today.  Headed out to church at 10:30 (late as usual). Had a funeral in Alamogordo at 2PM.  That lasted an hour.  Then lunch, Home Depot, Lowes, back to Home Depot, Sonic, back home at 7PM.  Lost my car keys at Lowes.  (I realized I forgot to call them).  Fortunately I had a spare set.  The whole trek was a chase of the wild goose variety.  No shelf brackets.  I ordered another 30 off Amazon.  I’ve depleted ACE’s regional warehouse (K/V 180 WH 8” – FYI).  These book shelves are going to take at least another 50 or 60, plus another set of shelves will take 30, then another set…. But I will be organized. 

Tomorrow – I hope – I have some fascinating numbers about the Mexican economy and what we as Americans can actually do to step in and improve the lives of people living there.  This could be fun – and we could make a difference.  More later!

CUTE ALERT:  Christmas 2004 I bought the kitties (I only had 4 then) 4 matching blue beds at Target.  Clancy, my beloved poo did not want a bed.  She lost her life to a ruptured disk a few months later, then “The Big Guy”, Brunhilda’s twin brother Siegfried, died of kidney failure.  When Rumsfeld was adopted in Feb of 2005, he quickly took to the bed.  Well, we now have 6 kitties (okay,  5.33 because Miss Piggy is still too little to be considered a whole cat).  Brunhilda had her bed pushed over in one side of the room, the other three beds were side by side against the railing around my dining room.  Miss Piggy has taken to the bed closest to my large bougainvillea.  Last night I put Brunhilda’s bed over with the others.  Naturally everyone was insulted, and huffed out of their beds for a few minutes.  Like a true brother, the moment Miss Piggy vacated her bed, Redford jumped in it.  Piggy just stood there, glaring at him.  Mommy Cat then tried to get Piggy into the bed next to Redford but Piggy being Miss Piggy, DIVA, flounced down the steps to the living room, where she perched up on the back of one of the chairs (her other sleeping spot).  Maybe 30 minutes later Bat Masterson decided he wanted the spot.  Piggy flounced off the chair and went back upstairs trying to get Redford to vacate her bed.  He would not do so and she absolutely refused to sleep in any other bed!

Currently Rumsfeld is in Miss Piggy’s bed.  She refuses to sleep in the vacant one, and is sleeping on the floor by her bed!

This week has been rough.  My friend, Jane Goodrich lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on Easter Sunday.  On Wed, someone I care about was picked up DUI and is now undergoing the 28 day treatment thing.  On Friday morning, I heard that my kitties’ vet’s oldest son, Court, was killed in an accident.  Then my sister calls and tells me a music video colleague died in his sleep.  This morning I learned that another dear friend, Penny Matthews lost her battle with beast cancer yesterday.  

I think we can now rest easily because between Penny and another dear friend, June Rawley, who lost her battle with stomach cancer a few years ago, Heaven will be very well organized and very well run.  Jane Goodrich was like that, also.  These ladies are HOME this evening, celebrating eternity with Christ.

But – I’m not sure about the other two, and that’s what is so sad.  I think the young man was a believer, but I know my sister’s friend did not believe in Christ.  I can think of nothing more tragic – to lose one’s life – to really lose it – by not knowing Christ.   

I hurt for my friend Rodney.  I don’t’ know what he is going to do without Penny.  They dearly loved one another.  I cry for the Franklin family.  I know how devastated my friend Barbara was when she lost her son at Christmas time.  It truly makes one understand the phrase, ‘no one said life was going to be easy.’ 

I do know I am sick and tired of losing my friends and people I love to cancer – and someone had better do something about it!

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY

 Jackie Robinson

Today one of the laments I heard was the fact that African-American ballplayers make up only 8% of MLB players.  While it is quite shocking, the statistic proves the ages old baseball theorem that Major League Baseball, above any sector of society, is ahead of the curve when it comes to minorities.

The early years of MLB were dominated by first generation and German immigrants.  This continued for about twenty years, until first and second generation Irish ball players became the predominate ‘minority’ within the game.  Then came the Italians and players who had ancestors from central Europe (Poland, etc.).  In 1946 Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball.  Next came Don Newcomb.  They paved the way to Say Hey to Willie Mays, Hammerin’ Hank, and the rest is history.  As records began to crack and break, racists were furious.  The African-American MLB player now dominated the game.  While this was going on, players from the Islands, Cuba, South and Central America, Puerto Rico, and Mexico began inching their way into the game.  Today Hispanics are the top ‘minority’ within MLB.  And now we are seeing players from Asia come into the game.  Twenty years from now they will be the dominant ‘minority’, proving that Major League Baseball is the melting pot of America.