Day One Done

Today (Friday) was my first day of being a precinct judge for early voting. I was one of two judges. The other one, Kara, belongs to the other political party--assigned this way by design. We also have two clerks--one from each political party--working at the polling place. 

Earlier in the week, I'd reached out to Kara to introduce myself. She didn't respond. I then took the initiative of sending out an e-mail to our team, introducing myself, setting the schedule and breaks, etc. I bring this up, because given she couldn't bother to get back to me, I had a feeling I knew what I was in for with my co-judge. And I was not wrong. 

The good news is I have only three more shifts with her. The bad news is she reminds me too much of Marty's sister-in-law (his brother's wife), who will not lift a finger to help with anything, whines about how horrible her life is and has to one-up everyone around her. If you won the lottery, she won it twice. If you lost your grandmother, she lost two grannies and a cat. Anyway, I have three more 13 hour shifts with Kara.

I'm not making her sound worse than she is. However, I am making my threshold of tolerance sound lower than it is. Pretty much, I tuned Kara out most of the day while she blathered on to the clerks.  

Kara's abject laziness and non-stop talkativeness aside, today went well. There was one slight hiccup. I stepped outside to eat lunch when the tabulation machine started beeping. One of the clerks hunted me down to tell me I needed to get back into the voting room right away, as if my mere presence could stop the beeping. It could not. 

The only other interesting tid-bit is I kicked out a Southern woman who started talking trash about "those people." I was horrified. I have experienced racism one other time since I got here with a member of the Ladies Auxiliary (and probably one of the primary reasons I don't want to hang out with them). My feelings then and now aren't different. If the woman I kicked out today feels the need to call the Secretary of State's office to report me, I will give her the number. 

Overall, I enjoyed my first day. Corona Patty and Corona Gail stopped by to vote and say hello. Many people thanked us for working the voting polls. With few exceptions everyone tended to be polite and friendly. Now off to sleep. I need to be back at 6:15 tomorrow. 

Random Texarkana (Small Town Stuff)

On the Facebook Texarkana Metro site last December: someone posted they lost their debit card in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby. They were currently forty miles away. Would someone be so kind as to head over to that parking lot, take a peek and if they find it, the owner of the card would be happy to cashap a few bucks to them for their time. The following post a few hours later was the same person, praising the sweet man who went over to the Hobby Lobby parking lot and found the debit card. 

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Our garage door is broken. It is a major inconvenience. It will be another three weeks before our new replacement door comes in. Meanwhile, I'm using the front door for all egress and ingress. However, I keep forgetting to lock the door. I realize Luna will probably scare away anyone with impure motives, but the big-city girl in me should know better than keeping the door unlocked. In fact, I'm home right now and my front and back door are both unlocked. I do that now. 

However, two weeks ago, Wake Village had a rash of violent crime, all within 24 hours and all on the same block. This has been the ONLY violent crime since we moved here. A juvenile shot his father (non-life threatening). A man stabbed his two girl friends (also non-life threatening). Another man took off with his brother's car and the brother held on and was dragged down the road (also non-life threatening). The first two were immediately apprehended. The car thief's brother's face was plastered all over--you guessed it--Facebook and was found and caught within 24 hours. All are being held in the bi-state jail. 

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I left my house ten minutes from my appointed meeting time at the barbecue joint on Stateline Road, which is roughly six miles from my home. Anxiety set in, I wouldn't have dreamt of leaving my home ten minutes prior to an appointment and having to drive six miles in Phoenix. Without speeding, I made it in seven minutes. I really need to chill out about travel around here. 

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Nobody--and I mean nobody--gives directions based on cross streets. Want to know where the Dairy Queen is? It is across the street from the old K-mart. Where's the old K-mart? Right next to the Dollar General located near the skating rink which isn't there any more, because "they" turned it into a car wash. Want to know where the book store is? In the old print shop on State Line, next to Mr. Tupper's former gallery (which went out of business 26 years ago). If you can't find these places, just go to Facebook. Nobody here has an actual Web page. They all use Facebook. 

Cheese, Beverages and Dallas

Texas Bluebell Fabric
Squee!!!

I might have mentioned this before: Marty Sunshine hates to go anywhere by himself. Anywhere. And now that the kids are older and more independent, it is left to me to honor the fine print of our marriage contract and make that !%*&$ drive with him to Dallas. 

It isn't that I don't like Dallas (okay, it's a big city. I'm done with big cities. They drain me.). It's just that I don't know my way around Dallas. And between Marty and myself, I'm the one with the better sense of direction. Anyway, for the third trip in a row, that's how I spent Saturday. 

Our first stop was a quilt store. I offered to help him find a chair and get comfortable while I looked around, but honestly, as far as quilt stores go, this one wasn't that great--though I found some Texas bluebell fabric. I've already warned him there will be other quilt shops in the future. Dallas has several. 

We then went to Winco which seems to be the closest place to us that sells this one type of coffee Marty can't seem to find anywhere else. We also stocked up on the non-perishables we can't find locally. If you need small jars of adobo chilies. Hit me up.

And, because I had to go to Dallas, I wanted a reasonable lunch. Fortunately, Dallas has restaurants. We found a place with fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches, which we shared and chased down with a flight of beer. Not necessarily a culinary paring. But hey! I live in Texarkana where "culinary pairings" include brown gravy and boiled okra. 

After lunch, we hit up Trader Joes and got Marty's tea. We bought several other things as well. My freezer is now full. And as much as I would have loved to have bought the ice cream sandwiches, I doubt they would have survived the drive home.  

On our way out of town, we stopped by Costco and ordered a cheese pizza for the young adults. They love Costco cheese pizza. Too bad we didn't buy any beer to pair it with.  

I Promised

My favorite human (and nephew), Patrick, called me last week. He told me he will be getting his black belt in karate later this year. He said, "Remember how you promised you'd come to my black belt ceremony?" I do remember. He then threw this at me: "Awesome!!!! I will see you in August!" 

Sure, Fine, Why Not?

 I am a Presiding Judge for the upcoming Presidential Primary Elections. This happened for a litany of reasons. 

1. Deb fled the country is on vacation in Mexico until some time in March. She usually has this role. She hates me thought highly of me enough to suggest to Ritchie, one of the Powers that Be, I might be a good fit. 

2. My political affiliation made me a good candidate for the position. They already had enough Presiding Judges from the other party. Though Texas doesn't have voter registration based on political parties, the voting places still need this represented for some reason. 

3. I didn't say, "not it," when Ritchie asked for volunteers. Actually, Ritchie called me directly and inquired about my day. He had "God Bless America" on Muzak in the background and talked about our God-given freedoms, the Constitution, and the American way. Then he sprang it on me that he "needed" me to be a judge. Okay, the second sentence didn't happen--but it felt like it did. 

Anyway, I agreed--this once--to be a presiding judge. This once, Right? Who am I kidding?

Phyllis is Right

 

Luna-Tic

Luna LOVES toys.

The two weeks of winter has subsided (for now). My tulips are starting to sprout. No word from my daffodils and crocus bulbs I planted, but it's only February 1st. Luna is no longer spending the day, hiding under the blankets.  (More recent pictures below because, reasons.)

The warmer weather is bringing out the puppy in her. Therefore, every day she and I go for a walk.  Unfortunately, even after copious amounts of obedience training, Luna still has a bit of a rebellious streak. Any stray squirrel, armadillo (no kidding), possum, cardinal, chickadee, blue jay or cat requires me to restrain all 70 pounds of muscle and repeatedly command her to heal. 

Plus, after we adopted her, we found out Luna had been a bait dog before we rescued her. She's been traumatized by other dogs and that's just the way it's going to be. Therefore, if any of my neighbors--which seems to be ALL of my neighbors--have their unleashed dog out in the front yard with them, I live through a special hell. 

My other option is not to take her on walks, which is like holding a tightly wound spring in my hands for hours at a time.  I'm thrilled Luna is still so active at her age. Even better, I'm glad I'm getting such a great resistance training workout every day. I just wish my arms were still the same length. 

Luna in January

Luna today, after her walk