Spring in Tucson.

It is warm. Hooray. Spring also means Spring Training baseball with the crack of the bat.

Hooray!

The Search for Kay Read Continues.

There is now a website for this.  Click on Kay Read for what to do.  Since so many people have hit on this on my blog, I wanted to provide an avenue

Sudanese Refugee Book.

    Luckily, I could take a break from playing hero today.  I got to concentrate on writing and push the Sudanese guys along with their book.  One had been away, he was stuck in Kenya, because of the violence between Kikuyu and Luo over the election there.   Jok made it clear he was glad to be back in Arizona.

He had some questions about things to put in the book from the questions my friends gave them.  So we are building the book and throwing in some history.

Saving the Day? Playing Hero Can Be Draining.

    I keep thinking of that show on NBC, Chuck saving the world at $11.00  I have had two calls at work that have been unnerving. One got  me a customer compliment, but it was unnerving.

He called because he and his son needed to change the PIN number on his daughter’s outside keypad on the garage.  The daughter died (tragic enough as that is) and they wanted the keypad changed so only close family and friends would have access.  They had keys to the house of course, but did not know who had the old code.

Talk about working under pressure.  I spoke with the father who had the son on his cell phone in the daughters garage.  A tough way to end a Saturday and get a customer compliment.

Friday as the last call and Saturday as my call before lunch, I get a call from a woman in tears.  These are for Garage Door Openers.  They are not supposed to be crying.

The bottom line is, the garage door opener is going up on its own, this woman is 87 years old and just widowed.  I know the region she lives in (a mountain area of Northeastern Pennsylvania known as the Poconos).

Well she is alone on a mountain top and scared.  I listened to her as she cried.  She is supposed to call me tomorrow, because supposedly the guys who put the garage door opener in are supposed to take care of her.

Then last Wed. (see the post about Ms. Read, I helped with that).  Luckily, today was a down day LOL!

Today I got to work on my favorite thing.  Writing.  I met with the Sudanese guys about their book.

The Search for Kay Read

Kay Read is a 62 year old Sunday School teacher who vanished on the night of February 14th and foul play is suspected.

I was watching my local news station KVOA Channel 4 and the story mentioned that people who wanted to volunteer and pass out fliers on Tucson’s East Side could meet at 8:30 A.M. at the Fry’s Supermarket, corner of Golf Links and Kolb Roads.

I am off on Wed. from my rent paying job and something told me to go. I wished I could have helped all day to hand out the fliers but had to do some other errands.

I have been asked if I was interested in a reward. That is hardly the point and it never occurred to me.

I talked about this in an impromptu speech for my Toastmasters club last night. We were short a speaker and I decided to speak about this. Why? Would someone search for one of your loved ones or you?

Her brother Wes flew in from Peoria, Illinois to help find her. I have written before about doing jury duty and voting. This is another part of being a good citizen. There are things that are best left to the police, but there are ways citizens can help.

Some have told me, “tragically she is dead.” As Yogi Berra said, “it ain’t over ’til it’s over.” How do you know? (Unless you did it). What if she was dumped in an arroyo and is cold and hungry? Cold, that is more than just a low temperature in the desert? If she is alone, wouldn’t she be happy to know the cavalry is coming?

I may it clear to her brother, if I can do it, I am on call. To use a baseball term, it is stepping up to the plate.

Orange Yerbie Orange Revolution

    I taped Michael Palin’s New Europe.  (It works so I can skip the commercials).

On this episode, Mr. Palin was in Ukraine and the Orange Revolution that brought Ukraine democracy was discussed.

I had Yerbie, my orange and white cat sitting next to me.  I wonder about painting a green stripe on Yerbie for St. Patricks Day.  Would it play in Northern Ireland?

Then again, what rhymes with orange?

Why Baseball is Important.

    I’ve spoken recently about American Football, but baseball for the strategy and its life lessons is my favorite sport.

I thought I had won Best Speaker last night in Toastmasters but did not.  Remember, if it is really competitive it is harder to win and winning is that much sweeter.

In baseball, a start hitter hits .300.  Remember that means he is “failing” seven times out of ten.

You still have to play.  You need your failures to learn.  It makes the winning taste like honey.

Pulling up the Stumps in the Yard.

    I was reading a book about the Scots-Irish in America.  It discussed cutting down trees and pulling out stumps in the 18th Century Appalachian wilderness.

I have my yard in a city neighborhood, but you have it, you have to work it.

I can lose myself in work that is muscle and shape building.

Yerbie Almost Ended Up Three Footed.

    He got in the way of the coffee table being moved and of course blamed the humans.

Now he is sitting with slit eyes giving me the haughty look.

More on the Pioneering Spirit.

    I was out working clearing stumps in my front yard.  Americans would clear land for two centuries before now.  I find it important to take care of what is yours.

Occasionally, local Mexicans would drive by and ask if I wanted to hire them.

I just tell them  Ningunos gracias, es importante para mí para trabajar en mi propia tierra.  (No thank you, it is important for me to work on my own land).

They look at me, shrug and leave.

Then Yerbie is looking at me through the screen door and crying.  I do not yet have a leash long enough for him to come out like that.

If it is yours, you take care of it and fight for it.  That is what we need to return to as Americans.  Once you get lazy, you stop growing and learning.

I remember the TV commercial but not what it for.  High School football team in the locker room at half time.  The coach talks about mistakes.  One of the players looks up quizzically and asks, “coach, aren’t we winning by twenty one points?”  The Coach says, “with that attitude, we are finished as a football team!”

I used to think that was madness.  It actually is not.  Are you perfect?  If there is nothing left to accomplish, then what?

One of my friends on Palin’s Travels posted the story that the same gun dealer sold both the Virginia Tech and the Northern Illinois shooters their guns.      We in the United States need a better gun policy, but weapons are a necessity.  The following is what I posted on Palin’s Travels.

Yes, it is an unnerving coincidence. This is what needs to be done in the United States, but no one will do it.

1. One Federal Gun Control Law. It is too easy between states with strict laws and states where it is easy to obtain a firearm. Also, one Federal law the populace votes on as part of a national referendum.
2. How should this referendum be set up?
A. What do you want to have a gun for? (Hunting, Protection, Collector etc.).
B. Do you want target practice enforced & how many times a year?
C. An examination on gun safety in the home.

Firearms and mental health experts should before the referendum be allowed to make suggestions. (There may be others).

A system like Switzerland’s where there can be training for civilians at military facilities with certain weapons that are left @ those facilities.

Just some thoughts for starters.

One of my other Palin friends just sent me an online petition which I signed about a man in Glasgow named Armstrong who is doing 3 years and 8 months in prison for defending his family from a drug crazed criminal.

I deplore violence, but on some, it has to be used.  The police did not protect him.

I have read up this weekend on gun control.  Problem is, evil people do not care about gun laws.  Good people get hurt.

As I finished in the yard I thought of one of my favorite Britcoms, Keeping Up Appearances.  I was in the yard with no shirt on working.  I wonder what Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket would have thought.  I can hear it now,

“Richard!  You are not properly dressed for gardening!”