CRACK SHOTS & CRACK POTS

Wednesday Feb. 23 I attended another protest on the steps of the Courthouse here in Vero Beach, this one concerning our lax gun laws. The crowd was large with many carrying signs. This time there were no counter protesters which is surprising. Just the day before I was reading a letter in the local newspaper from some idiot who claimed the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School massacre would have had far fewer deaths if teachers had been armed. Really??? I can visualize MORE deaths because more students and teachers would have been caught in the crossfire. Just how many people who own guns are crack shots!

But let's assume they are all trained marksmen; remember there's an element of surprise here, not to mention pressure. From what I read a policeman was there when all of this was going down and was frozen in place outside. And with a number of armed civilians a SWAT team would be confused as to which was the crackpot! This is the kind of stupid idea only an NRA toady could think up.

When I learned of this latest Florida shooting on Valentine's Day it was on the evening news and frankly I wasn't surprised. It's becoming too common place for that. Naturally Trump was eager to blame the FBI despite the fact he's made it easier for mentally disturbed individuals to purchase assault weapons as well as cut the funding for mental health. If anything, I'm surprised it doesn't occur more often.

The NRA owns the Republican Party. It's bought and paid for them! So I don't expect anything to change soon. However, that doesn't mean it should be accepted or even tolerated. Become a bayonet in their side, fight!!! Protest like hell again and again until something does change!!! You don't defeat bullies by turning the other cheek.

It's not just students and teachers who are in danger! The Orlando Pulse Nightclub, Las Vegas Concert, and Aurora Theater massacres are proof of that! No one is safe under our current gun laws. Next time it could be a nursing home filled with senior citizens, a sports arena, an airport, or even a supermarket! I could have been shot on the courthouse steps along with dozens of others. Vero Beach is a Trumpanzee town and the school shooter was a Trump supporter.

This, is only one of a long list of issues I have with Trump and his administration. I wish there was equally as much uproar about the other policies harming people and our environment. This entire administration along with their evangelical supporters consists of nothing but crack pots; vile and corrupt ones backing a con man in the oval office. All of them need to be removed, starting at the top!!!

As to our gun laws, Trump himself does not help his case with his boasts of shooting someone in broad daylight and not losing any voters. Remember during his campaign he urged someone use their Second Amendment right to take out Hillary Clinton.  -- I wish the same for him! It would only be poetic justice.

FYI I am a registered Republican and consider myself conservative. But I know a turd when I smell one.

Nothing good is going to come out of this presidency. This insane administration is all about greed! It's consumed by it! A toxic stench is permeating our land and it's emanating from that blob of human excrement inside the White House.

Trump, you are incompetent, plus a disgrace and an embarrassment! Since you love guns so much why don't you do this country and the entire world a favor and shoot yourself!

I don't care if you leave office in handcuffs or a box, either way I will celebrate! There will be dancing in the streets!

FLASHING, SPINNING, NEON LIGHTS GOING ROUND & ROUND

It was my nasty Valentine's gift from the Universe! On the eve before Valentine's Day I was watching a movie on my DVR titled: Best Laid Plans. The movie was kind'a sucky, but I've always liked Reese Witherspoon. She reminds me of peanut butter cups. Anyway, about 45 minutes into the film I noticed my giant eye floater darting about like a speedballing bug! Suddenly flashing, spinning, neon lights appeared inside the outer edge. My right eye seemed to be on an acid trip!

Alarmed, I hurried to get my eye drops, the ones specially formulated for dry eyes like mine hoping it would normalize the situation. It didn't, not even after repeated applications every half hour. I kept examining the eye in the mirror searching for a difference between it and the left one. But they looked exactly the same, yet one was acting bizarre. After the movie, I went to bed hoping the eye would return to normal the next AM. It didn't!

On Valentine's Day it was still acting crazy as I awoke. I Googled my symptoms. -- I had been warned previously by a healthcare professional never to believe Dr. Google because he would mess with my head. Well my eye was messing with my head and I wanted answers! To my horror, I discovered I had symptoms of a detached retina. The bottom line was to seek medical treatment immediately or I would permanently lose vision in that eye.

I phoned the Florida Eye Institute and gave a nurse my symptoms. She instructed me to come in early the next AM; they made a space for me. Just last October, I had cataract surgery in both eyes there. I don't have Insurance and despite my age, I don't qualify for S.S. or Medicare. And my bank account couldn't handle a hit from another surgery! I was sick with stress and foreboding.

Later, my friend Marie dropped over with cookies from a French bakery. It was the one bright spot in my worst Valentine's Day ever! I told her the horrible news.

Marie said she had a giant eye floater, too. Hers looks like a lobster! We both laughed. Marie offered to drive me the following morning. I could still drive. Besides, I knew I was in for a long, tedious wait there and I couldn't subject her to that. So I thanked her and declined.

At the Institute the next day, I had to be examined by 4 technicians (with long waits between each) before even seeing the doctor. The morning felt excruciatingly long. I heard a nurse inform a patient that they were running late due to an emergency case. I wondered if that was me.

The doctor stated that the gel in my right eye was loosening and it was age-related, but he saw no signs of a tear in the retina. I asked about the flashing, spinning, neon lights, and the floater gone wild. He said I was having a migraine!

I told him I didn't get migraines anymore, although I had terrible ones during my early to mid-50's. He stated that if you are migraine prone they never go away, you just outgrow the pain. I've never heard that before and it sounded crazy to me! But I reminded myself that I was talking to a professional.

Thinking back, my migraines were always over my right eye stretching clear to the back of my head on the one side. They were nothing short of torture! I would go 3 days or more without food because I couldn't even keep water on my stomach! But I NEVER saw flashing, spinning, neon lights or even halos which many migraine sufferers do!

He said my symptoms would eventually go away and the floater would settle back down. The light show in my right eye is less dramatic, now. However, the floater is still darting around the screen as I type.

Thankfully, no surgery was required, I left $500 poorer; but I should be grateful it's not thousands!

What scares me, if this occurs again, how can I be absolutely certain it's only a migraine.

I doubt there will ever be affordable healthcare in this country, at least not during my lifetime. This is a for-profit industry and too many people with influence are getting rich off it. If you are a senior citizen with health issues to them you are just a piece of stale meat with a wallet!

WINTER, I LOVE YOU!!!

This year, Florida has been experiencing more than a few days of winter, even more than a week. Those from other states have no idea how rare and precious this has become!

Every February I hear people declare with exaltation, "Summer is right around the corner now, I can't wait!" -- I WANT TO PUNCH THEM!!! I don't want summer arriving. I dread the long months of heat & humidity along with hurricane stress & anxiety! Summer has become a season of misery for me. Oh and I forgot the swarms of bugs, too!

The best part of the year here in Florida is after hurricane season when the holidays arrive one after the other. And if the weather is chilly, that's a double bingo jackpot!

So winter please stay awhile longer, linger into spring. Your cold nip excites me and makes me feel alive, yet, safe and comfortable. Wrap yourself around me and let me inhale you.

Yeah sure, I know people up north are shivering in the snow & ice. However, judging by the horrendous traffic and congestion, I think half of them are down here. Go home and freeze, I say!

Late spring and summer will at least bring an end to that, (temporarily) along with lengthy lines in restaurants & supermarkets, also it will be easier to find parking spaces once the tourists & snowbirds go home. This part is good at least, but I still long for the coolness of winter.

I'll miss the glowing serenity of the season, being bundled-up in warm clothes with my snuggy boots and a mug of hot mocho here alone inside the house I love. Twenty years ago this would have seemed an impossible fantasy. No matter what happens in the future, I can look back and know that I enjoyed the sublime here and now.

And when it's cold I fall asleep faster and sounder under lots of heavy covers!

For the first time in almost a decade, I've had to turn the heat on to get the chill out of the house in the AM, but I prefer that to sweating! My thermostat is set at 68 degrees. Once the temperature hits that, I turn it off.

I've never eaten so much soup in my life as I have this winter, except during the back-to-back hurricanes of 2004. Then, I sipped it at room temperature. I didn't mind, because my house was boarded up and there was no electricity. The last thing I wanted was something hot!  OMG What I wouldn't have given for a big, freezing, cold, chocolate-covered ice cream bar during the aftermath of those hurricanes!

Our Florida winters were becoming steadily hotter. Often I wore my summer clothes year round. The pretty sweaters & jackets I bought on sale, at long last I've been able to wear! They've just hung in my closet for a few years until now.

Please winter, linger awhile longer. I wish I could freeze time and make you last forever. But I can only enjoy the chill while it lasts. I fear the weather will be warming long before summer returns.

I've got my fingers crossed in hope for next December. Winter, please don't be a stranger. You are welcome here!