For those interested in helping - cash is king right now. In the longrun, they are going to need donations of food, blankets etc too, but right now the infrastructure is virtually none existent. They aren't going to be able to put to use a truckload of food collected in phili.

Please, KT friends, do not talk and drive. It's not about your HANDS. It's about distracting your MIND from piloting a thousand pounds of missile among other missiles. You will need all your wits about you when the darn fool sharing your road while distracted by his phone creates a sudden traffic crisis. We see others driving distracted all the time. We could immediately reduce traffic deaths and accidents by not allowing civilian vehicles to take or receive any but emergency calls while the vehicle is in motion. Some trucking companies already attempt to do this; their company phones will not operate when the truck is in motion. There is no personal call more important than driving FOCUSED. Again, multi-tasking is a MYTH. Elmer -- Yes, I'm talking about a take-overs or shut-downs. When people put 'all their eggs' onto a cloud, what happens if the cloud 'floats away'? In "Handmaid's Tale" -- a *story* -- religious oligarchs take over the nation, controlling everyone's ability to buy, sell, move about, communicate, eat, breathe. If everyone eventually puts his whole life online...wouldn't it be easy to freeze or seize it? Some of my concern is prompted by learning that even in remote Chinese villages, people not only have cell phones, but have every aspect of their lives 'on' them: Their identity papers, their savings, their pensions. Phones replace cash and credit card transactions. It's "I Am My Cell Phone". This led me to think about bandits holding people's computers hostage, and then to, "Why not kidnap the entire Virtual Person?" That led to, "Why not take over a whole nation? And now we are back to "Handmaid's Tale".

My Dad is not the one drinking alcohol. And I rarely drink it. I was joking. Although the mixture of the fat and sugar from the butter pecan and the alcohol did give me quite the unhealthy buzz. That was two weeks ago, I haven't eaten ice cream or drank alcohol since. As I mentioned in my original post, I'm really not a big drinker. My Dad is 89 years old and I can't tell or explain to him one single thing. In fact, if I even try he will do the exact opposite just to try and prove me wrong. Surely you know the type . . . As for "brain dumping" some people do find conversations with others or journaling a helpful stress reliever. I have a friend who wrote, sang and did "performance art" to help her heal from the sudden death of her younger brother from an unknown (at the time) rare heart condition. She lost her new husband to brain cancer a couple of months ago and is now finding great support in a widow's group . . . Lots of great suggestions here. Edited to add for Jill that I feel your pain. My Dad often is mad at me for something he is projecting on to me. He's convinced I've done something even when presented with blatant proof that I haven't, or convinced I'm thinking something when it is not even remotely on my mind. Paranoia is part of an anxiety disorder. My favorite is his obsession with time. I'm either too early or too late, but it's always one of them.

I'm so far behind with you all, I'll never catch up. I posted this in last week's instead of this. . . so will just go ahead and post it here. And now back to read up on the past week's. Elderberry bushes in bloom are so pretty! I have two out front but at the corner of the yard, so we don't ever really see them. I am SO sorry about your uncle--and all the grief in every way for everyone. The grasshoppers are on their way to two wins in two years. Bad deal. However, I'll count my wins--a yard full of butterflies, too, at this point. Blueberries, blackberries, peppers, a couple tomatoes, garlic and onions. Kind of a strange harvest! I don't know if I'll ever get my laptop debugged so I can sign on GW on it. For now my indoor big computer's the only access. Well. . . cell, but I don't use the cellphone for this stuff. And I'm out on the deck from morning til I fall asleep in the evening, for the most part. It was quite nice here yesterday and the day before, Larry--it would have been great gardening weather, but the lake is finally down low enough so that we can launch the boat, and the high was just below 80 for most of the time were were out there--morning--beautiful weather. Fishing no good. Zip, nada. Jennifer, your garden looks just beautiful, as did your kraut! I'm going to wind mine down--easy stuff like the strawberries, onions, garlic and asparagus. We really need to get together one of these days, Rebecca, here or there with the others. My beets didn't turn out either. ONE. One great beet. lol Crazy busy here. Been working at the school garden--and right now John and I are working up an inventory--he started it and I've been filling in the blanks. I laughed--Rick, I hate morning glories, too. John has been very conscientious about getting them out of the beds--BUT. we have this 8' tall fence all around the property. . . I've been planning to get the fence obscured along one long side by elderberries, blackberries, clematis virginiana, coral honeysuckle, and crossvine. And then John had the great idea of moving the morning glories into pots with bottoms removed and setting them against the fence. If there's one place we're fine with them, it's there. Fun idea, actually. And that's about it from here. Take care, all.