Rushing's Ramblings

I've lived in Texas all my life except for a year in South Africa, 12 years in South Florida, and one year in Seattle.  You'd think I would have been in a good 'ole smoke-filled, boot-scooting,' hell-raising, beer-drinking Texas bar at least once in all those years.  Alas, I had not until this past Sunday. Two new friends of mine are musicians.  I didn't know their history, but I was curious about it.  I asked them about their music when they called me this past Saturday to ask if I'd volunteer for our organization at a theater in Llano next week.  They asked if I liked 'smoke-filled beer joints,' and I told them I didn't. Well, they play at one every other Sunday afternoon.  That hooked me.  I didn't think so at the time, but a beer joint should have been on my Bucket List.  Forget about Asia and Australia; I should have been thinking about local sites I still needed to experience before I went to the other side of the world! This p...

It's tiresome hearing the phrase "I'm so blessed" almost every day.  I always wonder if someone spewing this sentiment realizes how arrogant they sound. 'Being blessed' implies that God showed favoritism.  I don't believe that to be true.  God wouldn't choose you over anyone else.  What happens to us is either a result of actions we initiated, others initiated, or even sheer randomness. The more accurate word would be 'fortunate.'  You could even say you were 'lucky.' Some of the unfortunate things that have happened to me resulted from my poor judgment.  When I was a child, bad stuff was done to me.  Overall, I was unlucky as a child.  God didn't reach down and decide to choose me for the abuse I endured, nor has he chosen anyone else to live a miserable existence.   As an adult, I've been, by and large, very fortunate. I wasn't really fortunate or lucky since I set goals and achieved them just for the expe...

The simple reason for wanting to Chair the Llano County for the Democratic Party is that I want to make a difference. I have marched and written hundreds of letters to our representatives in Congress.   Almost equally disturbing are the Texas Governor and Republican members of our legislature and their positions on public education, bathrooms, immigration, and women’s rights.   We must turn our state Blue again.   It begins locally. I’ve read the ACA and the recently proposed replacement bills.   I favor improving the ACA or, more importantly, moving closer to a single-payer system.   The insurance and pharmaceutical companies have made millions on the backs of the average American citizen.   This cannot be allowed to continue.   We also cannot allow Medicaid to be taken from the most vulnerable in our society, as proposed in the most recent bills.   I fear Medicare will be privatized, which is Representative Conaway’s intention along wi...

Memories of Buddy creep into my head from time to time.  It's a problematic memory because of the circumstances surrounding the end of his life.  I suppose the grief and guilt I've experienced from this is enough penance, but I'm not sure even that's enough or if I'll ever fully recover. Richard was my boyfriend for a few years while I lived in South Florida.  We lived 80 miles apart but would see each other most weekends.  That is until 5 years of this kind of schedule passed, and I wanted him to curtail his sailing lessons to 2 weekends out of the month.  He was a great boyfriend in many respects, but the distance and infrequent time together began to bother me. We had been a couple for about a year when we decided to adopt a dog from a rescue organization.  He was described as being half chihuahua and half lab in an ad on Craigslist.  The description alone was intriguing. I discovered he had been in foster care for a month after a ...

Although Buddy tries hard not to be bad, he sometimes can't help himself.  It's like a devil resides deep inside him, and evilness takes over spontaneously.  Despite this character flaw, he's the most loving dog to us that we could ever want.  From his crooked leg to his humongous ears, it's evident that he loves us unconditionally.  We're suckers for love. We recently visited Richard's son, Ben, and his family, who live in a beautiful rural area near Winston-Salem.  Our visit was during the last week of March when the spectacular colors of spring were spread abundantly on the rolling hills.  The family lives on a nice spread in the middle of those lovely North Carolina hills.  Pot-bellied pigs, guinea hens, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats all co-exist in neatly built pens on the property and close to their house.  Each and every one of them is treasured as pets.  Roaming freely was a gorgeous diminutive red but partly lame Bantam rooste...

It was another beautiful afternoon in the perpetually summer-like climate of South Florida. I suggested we go for a sunset sail as soon as Richard returned from his daylong keelboat class. Richard, in a highly agreeable mood, thought this would be splendid. Since he had been spending three weekends in a row teaching sailing, he wanted to make me happy. Plus, I'll admit it; the man LOVES to sail. Buddy, our rescue dog, was his usual happy self. After all, he was with the two people he loved the most and was getting to spend some time with us on the water. Buddy loves watching people, birds, and boats that hand around the water. He finds it fascinating to put his front paws on the side of the boat while hanging his head over the edge and watching the water as we sail along. He looks like he's in doggy heaven. It wasn't pleasant to sail with Buddy in the early days of our relationship. His first several trips on the boat were filled with whining, barking, and crying. He couldn...

About the time I think that I have seen everything and been everywhere, something always comes along to take me by surprise.  It's not often one gets to see an inflated, quite dead cat floating belly-up in Biscayne Bay and a dolphin kissing the side of Angel, Richard's sailboat, all in one day. The most spectacular sight of that Saturday morning was seeing over 100 sailboats gathered at the same time near the Rickenbacker Causeway, with the Miami skyline serving as a backdrop.  Most sailboats already had their Spinnakers ballooning from a tailwind as we began the 'Miami to Key Largo Regatta.'  The scene brought back memories of the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque with all the bright hues of the Hot Air Balloons before their early morning launch. Spinnakers are the most beautiful of the sails.  They are composed of much lighter material than a jib or a main sail.  Most days of sailing don't include the use of Spinnakers.  It's a special da...