ame inman's Open Salon Blog

Just a Quick Thought on Mother's Day

Sun, 13 May 2012 23:05:11 -0400

My daughters probably think I only do things for them to make them happy. Honestly, I do things for them because it makes me happy, too.

My Ground Belongs to Me

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:05:22 -0400

As usual, no grammar, spelling check, sentence structure corrections.

My property, being in a neighborhood within the city limits of my town, is measured in feet, not acres. I don't have much elbow room (the "far side" of my driveway marks the property line of my "left side" neighbor and I.

Both of my next door neighbors and I have lived side by side for over a dozen years. We know we don't really have to call or ring doorbells to ask permission to retrieve a ball or frisbee, sometimes we do, sometimes we just go through each other's fence gates, send a kid climbing over the fence.

But...if I saw someone I didn't know in my backyard, I would be alarmed enough to verify the back doors were bolted. I would be alarmed enough to go grab one of my guns.

If someone tried to enter through any window or door from the back of our home, the alarm system would go off, screeching like a banshee. Red alert to fetch a gun.

I like to think I would wait for someone to enter my house before I shot them, but by law, I don't have to. I like to think I would yell loud enough to tell them to go away, but I might not. I have to assume that someone trying to enter my house without my permission has ill intent on their mind.

This is my ground. I don't mind if someone else stands on it unless they intend to cause harm. As the saying goes: I'd rather be tried in a court of law by 12 of my peers than toted in my grave by 6 of my loved ones.

Winding up the school year

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:05:40 -0400

I just don't quite get the parents who dread the end of a school year, dance a jig when school starts back.

Today was our last "real" day of school until August. Next week, eh, just final exams.

On a happy note, this will be my last time to go through 6th grade; once for myself, once for my 0lder girl graduating 8th grade (that basically means her classes will be on the other side of the "wide hallway" from where the 6th-8th grade classes are.

On a sad note, I am about to fight with 7th & 8th grade for the 3rd time, 9th grade for the 2nd.

I suspect a clan of evil trolls have worked together for decades to make "now math" impossible for anyone under the age of 10 to understand. I thank the Lord that my soon-to-be 9th grader has been able to help her sister. All I can do is sit and look at the book with a blank expression on my face.

Welcome, Summer Vacation! I love you!

My So-called "Own-kind" Have Done The Worst Damage to Me

Sun, 1 Apr 2012 23:04:10 -0400

I am a white female, have always have been. I've, as of yet, never had reason to be afraid of a person of another race. It was the white boys who gave me trouble.

My first kiss, when I was 13, was from a white boy who just walked up and kissed me, more than once. This was the same white boy who made a point to sit behind me in classes where we were not assigned seats, who would push his knees against my butt, who's hand I would feel touching my butt in history class. Once, I felt a strange sensation, and looked down to see that he had scooted forward enough, moved slowly enough, to cup my right breast in his right hand. I was to embarrassed to tell the teacher, so I just scratched him. IT was a black boy who told him to stop bothering me. The other white boys thought it was funny.

I learned to avoid this white boy after, several times, during our break times, would run up the stairs and somehow manage to "accidentally" cup my crotch as he passed me. It was a black boy, not the same black boy as previously mentioned, who finally told him he had better not touch me again. That black boy kept a watch on me from then until we graduated high school. I was not molested again.

This same white boy ended up being the hero of our high school football team. By this time, I was taller, stronger than he, so he found other victims to harrass, plus I had my black guy friends. We white kids outnumbered them 30 to 1, but their mama's raised them to always protect a lady. I'm not sure how the white boy's mama's were raising them.

My girls were lucky to attend elementary school with mostly non-white kids. Our non-white neighbors were the ones to come to sit with us, help us, when my late-husband died. I didn't even have to ask.

So, any time I here a white person being all high and mighty, bad-mouthing non-white people, bad-mouthing people whose parents/grandparents were not born in the U.S., I feel beyond angry, beyond livid because so often, it is "My Own", "My Own Kind" who try to harm me, to mistreat me.

So, pardon me, "My Own, My Own Kind" for tending to chose "Them" over "You".

He Could Never Be a Racist

Sun, 1 Apr 2012 22:04:38 -0400

I couldn't find a suitable tag for this one. And as I've said before, I won't go back and correct spelling.

"He could never be a racist." is a statement my younger daughter said out of the blue regarding our 2nd eldest male cat, Biscuit. Her logic is that since he is black and white, he could never be racist. Since he has extra toes and no tail (he is a manx) he would never pick on handicapped people or handicapped animals. She says that he was just born the way he is, so why would he judge any other living creature for being born the way they were born.

Biscuit contracted an evil intestinal parasite when he was a few weeks old, living in a rescue shelter. As a result, he spent many weeks unable to keep food in his body long enough for the food to nourish him. He isn't as smart as our other cats, he is easily confused, but he is very loving.

We have six cats, 1 orange male with a tale, one orange male without a tail; 1 tortie shell female with a tail, 1 tortie shell female without a tail; one mostly black, but with several white spatterings here and there, female with a tail, 1 black and white male with no tail.

Our cats range in age from 10 years old down to 7 months old. They play together, eat together, sleep together in peace.

How about we humans give that a try?

You and me, baby, ain't nothin but mammals, but we humans are supposedly more intelligent than other mammals. I'm beginning to doubt the truth in that theory.

If the so-called "lesser" mammals can treat each other with love, respect, why can't the ones of us walking erect, with thumbs, do the same?

Let's all ponder on that.