March 28, 2010

  • It Must Have Been Something About The Day


    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    I guess it wasn't just me that got introspective yesterday.  I play games on Pogo and chat with the people in the game rooms.  I've made friends with a lot of people over the years.  Some I know a lot about; some I have actually met in person; others I know only in the game room and nothing much more about them....except whether they are married, widowed, divorced, single..that kind of stuff.  We talk about kids, grandkids and great-grandkids for a few of us.  We talk about what we are doing for Holidays.  There are a lot of things we share without going into depth about ourselves.  I'm sure you know what I mean.

    Last night, after I had blogged, I was playing with a group I play with on a daily basis.  One of the girls knows I blog and she asked me what I blogged about that day.  I told her (and the room in general because it wasn't a private chat).  I was stunned at the reaction. 

    At first it was very general in nature.  Discussing how awful it is that women and children go through that.  Several people popped up with different views about why it was worse before there were shelters for abused women and children.  Others talked about the social stigma that isn't the same any more.  Then, little-by-little, a few women opened up.

    One woman I have *known* for about two years admitted to a husband that put her in the hospital for four months.  That was the FIRST time he got physical.    I know!  Can you imagine?  Anyway, she said the very first day she was home from the hospital, he got angry at her (for being such a *baby* for so long) and came towards her like he was going to hit her again.  She had placed a baseball bat within easy reach and she said she came up swinging when he brought his fist up.  She broke his arm and kept going.  The neighbors called the police and it took four cops to pull her off him.  She said she was so scared and so angry at the same time but she wanted him to know what it felt like.

    After being brought to the hospital, he was jailed for about two weeks until his trial (over putting her in the hospital for four months for a start...).  The State Attorney's office had the pictures of her, the hospital and test reports.  The husband ended up in jail for several years for...get this!  Attempted murder!    I know!  What a great judge.

    She, of course, divorced him.  Luckily, they had no children together but the whole room was cheering for her since this was over 30 years ago.  But that was about the time the tide was turning.  Suddenly, several more women were telling their stories of abuse by a husband and, in one case, a boyfriend.  Their responses were as varied as the stories.

    I was so taken aback by all this that I had to relate it here today.  But I won't go into it any deeper than this:  IF YOU ARE AN ABUSED WOMAN OR SEE YOUR CHILDREN BEING ABUSED, RUN, DO NOT WALK, AS FAST AS YOU CAN.  THERE IS HELP OUT THERE FOR YOU.  YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  THERE ARE MANY WOMEN WHO HAVE SUFFERED AND HAVE BITTEN THE BULLET AND WALKED AWAY.  No, it's not easy.  Yes, it may be lonely ... at first.  But you will be able to stop being afraid all the time eventually.  There is legal and psychological help available to you no matter what your income.  There will also be job training and help with the children.  You will be SAFE and that is what matters.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Today started out pretty good for me although it was cold outside.  The weatherman (and weatherbug) said it was going to go up to 65 but I didn't believe it.  I was right...it never got over 60 and even that wasn't until after 1:30 or so.

    Then, I went to go put some clothes in the washer and almost had a heart attack.  I know what happened, although the Beast tried to deny it.  I think he went into the cabinet in the laundry area to look for something and he knocked over my concentrated hummingbird food.  I admit, I made the first mistake by NOT putting the top on tight.  But...typical Beast, he ignored knocking it out of the cabinet and onto the top of the washer and just left it there.  It leaked all over the top of the washer, down the side and onto the floor!  Worse...it HARDENED.  Know how tough concentrated sugar is to get up when it hardens?  I wish it on no one.  What a mess.  I made him pull the washer and dryer out so I could clean the side and underneath both of them since it had spread nicely and wasn't the least bit picky about WHERE it hardened.    Yeah, I'm laughing now but I sure wasn't during the hour it took me getting it up.  And, yes, I did try scraping but..remember we have Bella wood floors and I didn't want to injure it.  It took some soaking to even get it to move under the scraper.  What a mess!

    The Beast tried to say *I* did it but I told him I had just put the open bottle and the unopened one into the cabinet yesterday when I put some stuff that had been stacked on top of the dryer up on top of the cabinets in there where I store them between Holidays.  Crystal bowls and stuff.  That's when the Beast knew I had him because he realized they were gone and he hadn't even noticed.  He knocked the bottle out and just left it there without even standing it up.  I was really angry with him and myself for being so careless.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    The Beast got his new scope via UPS yesterday and took it out today to *fine tune* it on the rifle he plans to use to do his hunting this fall.  He didn't leave until the temperature was over 50 but he hadn't counted on the wind.  It was very windy today.  I saw his target for 100 yards, however, and he did very well with it.  The scope is just great and he's tuned it perfectly.  Lets hope he can actually hit something living (other than accidentally hitting another hunter) with it.  I told him he had better think about getting his orange vest and not wait until the last minute for it.  That's just another way he ends up paying a high price for things.  He waits until he absolutely HAS to have it.  Or else he buys something as soon as it comes out and pays the premium price for it because he can't wait.  There's no winning with him.

    All the blossoms seem to be holding on well despite the heavy winds today.  All four of the plum trees are just thick with them.    We will be doing a lot of thinning.  We have four different varieties of plums and three trees are just in their first year in our little *grove*.  Those will be thinned the most so they don't suffer the fate of the first plum tree we planted.  Our little *weeping willow* plum, as I call it. 

    Love you all.  Have a great day.  Take care of yourselves, please.  Friends are tough to replace.