Can I Have a Cup of Money?

Immune to reality I am not.

Everyone is making cutbacks and cut outs in today's economic circumstances. We are teetering towards the brink of collapse both individually and nationally.

Riots worldwide are simply the tip of the coming iceberg and the tsunami of catastrophe that will follow from the shocks and aftershocks of discovering that we don't have an endless supply of anything but love.

Sadly, I must disagree with the Beatles and their beautiful sentiment of "all you need is love". I can't remember the last time I paid the light bill with a big hug and a kiss to the folks at the utility company. Chances are had I actually tried to do that, I'd find myself being fitted for a very unattractive day-glow orange jumpsuit.

We have two in college now.

How many ways can you spell "broke"?

I'd love to have a rich uncle or a philanthropic neighbor next door. I'd tap politely at the screen door under the carport and say "I'm a little short on the necessities of life this month. Can I have a cup of money?" 

'Sure thing!' they'd say, smiling. 'Been there a time or two and you helped me out!'

And just like we used to swap eggs, flour, butter and other things in a neighborhood barter system, they'd give me what I needed to tide me over and I'd do the same for them in either direct repayment, or by repayment in kind. Lawn mowing, bush pruning and power washing the driveway would be a good start.

Sadly, as the costs continue to escalate for everything from butter and eggs to books and tuition, we are left with a cosmic juggling act to put money here and there and, it seems, EVERYWHERE to pay for the minutia of life that has suddenly become gargantuan.

I can't remember the last time I went to the grocery store in which the prices in the intervening two weeks were the same. A nickel here, a dime over there and pretty soon everything you buy has sneaked up the price to the point that not only does a dollar not go very far, neither does a twenty.

So it is with college bills. Yet, unless you have some kind of special skill, training, education, product, good or service that everyone needs every day or almost every day, you will go broke trying to make it week to week and still have enough money left over at the end of the month just to live.

I truly feel for those who are in a hard-scrabble position of trying to live on minimum wage. But minimum wage is much higher now than it was when I had to live off of it. And even my best paying job paid below what the current minimum wage is!

Times change and so do expenses.

I realize money isn't the answer to everything, but it certainly answers a few of life's more important questions like "did you pay the light bill?" or "why don't we have anything to eat?".

We have come to the point in our spending in which everyone has realize they are in an "oh, crap" mode. When you have trimmed back all the luxuries decades ago and now you are looking at the necessities to determine just what needful things you can trim back, you know you are searching for the cup of money to help you out.

It never ceases to amaze me though, the expanded "rights" people think they need to have. While luxury items have crept in and become necessities to many people, I have tried very diligently to consider just what we truly need and what is just a 'nice idea'.


If someone out there happens to have a spare cup of money, I'd sure like to get a few bucks to buy some textbooks. If not, we will figure something out.

We usually do by making tough choices and with lots of prayers of faith. God provides. He always does.

Savage in waiting

To most people, their dog is "just a dog". But to those of us who understand the reality of puppy personality and intelligence, there is no such thing as "just a dog"

The ear of a dog can register sounds beyond our own as humans. They can discern pitches that defy our auditory nerve cells to detect.

Gypsy demonstrates this on a daily basis during the school year.

When the school buses run, which they do frequently on our street based upon our proximity to the elementary school, she barks at them all evilly. After all, they definitely contain interlopers and would be usurpers of neighborhood turf - more specifically, HER neighborhood turf.

But she saves her most evil, high pitched, ear drum splitting bark for the bus that arrives to pick up Jared.

She can tell from two blocks away that it is coming. It just sounds different. Thanks to her good training, Gypsy will sit under the carport with me and Jared while the bus backs into the driveway. This temporary intrusion into the sanctified, fortified and amplified barking area is allowed simply because she KNOWS the driver and the nurse on the bus. When a relief driver or substitute nurse has been on the bus from time to time, she looks at them with a jaundiced eye and demands to sniff them out for any evil intent on their part.

They are, after all, taking her baby for a ride in their bus and she MUST be sure that they are worthy of his companionship.

Today, she sat stock still, barking her head off as Cathy expertly maneuvered the bus into our driveway backwards so as to allow room for the wheelchair lift to come down in a safe area for loading. As soon as the bus stopped and Gypsy heard the air brakes chuffing, she turned to me with one ear flicking as if to say "Can I get 'em NOW?"

I told her "You're free!" which is the signal to get up and prance around sniffing everyone and everything giddily. And yes, dogs DO get giddy. At least this one does.

Gypsy prances around on her very tiptoes with a cat-like elegance combined with her very dog-like hunting/herding reflexes well in place. Any stray scent is met with sharp attention. These helpers for Jared must show strict partisanship for Jared and Jared alone.

Other scents must be approved by Gypsy as being okay. Without that approval, she attempts to get onto the bus to drive for herself. The fact that she lacks both a driver's license and CDL as well as lacking the leg length to handle a bus seems to not trouble her in the least.

Her evil smile is enough to let you know that she is watching you VERY carefully.

Gypsy also knows what time it is.  With alacrity and accuracy, she leaps from her cushioned bed to go bark at the bus each afternoon. Each bus that passes receives it's own pitch of barking and ferocious teeth. But when Jared's bus arrives, she's all happy barks and waggly tail. She cannot contain her excitement!

Jared laughs at all of this. She is, after all, his baby savage. She loves him as a fierce protector and friend. He loves her as his buddy, pal, chum and furry companion.

Though she is all hugs and kisses and happy barks for Jared, she can turn on an interloper with a different bark in a nanosecond. She can sniff out a stranger and ask for I.D. quicker than the Feds!

Although she can sound menacing, Gypsy really isn't. She will attempt to defend us, but will readily obey when we call her off. Though, like a woman, she grumbles out one last word to let us know any new syllable we might utter is just the start of a different argument.

My rehab is going well on my ankle and I can't wait to be cleared for some light walking. I know Gypsy will be happy to see the leash come down from the coat rack. I just hope she can contain her "Wolfgang" enthusiasm and not go so fast that she churns ME into butter...

Oh the joys of having a savage in the home!

School Daze

The bus has come and whisked Jared away to school. Yes, he DID graduate, but due to his special needs, he can still attend at Tanner until he turns 21. Which is a blessing for him. I am pretty much ZERO fun around the house and cannot duplicate all that is available to him at his school.

We are on the waiting list for the only adult program in our county and have been told that whenever the call comes to have Jared enrolled that we should now take it. I hope it doesn't come until Jared finishes his 21st natal year so that he can enjoy the full day at Tanner.

He was smiling as the lift carried him  up into the bus.

I think if he had his way about it all, we'd buy him a bus to drive him around in simply because they bounce over the roadways and give him a 4x4 ride experience that reminds him of his Daddy's big truck that is now long gone. If it were possible, Jared would rig it up to jump other cars, fly over railroad trestles with a big bump takeoff and a bigger bump landing and a GPS that mapped out every single pothole and bouncy road in the county.

Gypsy was anxious to see that Jared and all of the attendant school supplies were loaded up. THREE boxes of goodies to get him started. As soon as all was loaded, she decided SHE should accompany him to the school.

Not so fast little fur bag!!! You drag your carcass off that bus!!

Jared was giddy with laughter. I'm sure he was thinking how nice it would be to have Gypsy accompany him, lie at his feet at each work station and rest on the bed beside him during nap time.

What he and Gypsy either one neglected to mention was the barking she would most certainly do since to her, everyone at the school is an interloper and must be defended against at full volume.

She would enjoy that role.

I'm sure the teachers would not.

Gypsy is currently lying on the floor directly beneath the ceiling fan sulking. I have ruined her good times for the day and she can't understand why she wasn't allowed to accompany her baby to school.

As Jared begins another year, I cannot help but smile as he smiles. This is a wonderful time for him. He gets to see his old friends and make new ones as new children join his classroom. He so enjoys the time to learn to master new skills.

Sadly, that also means that once again, the house is quiet with only me and Gypsy here.

I guess I should start the laundry so there will be some noise in the house besides the sound of my own breathing.