Lubbock Mayor's Annual Beans and Cornbread Lunch in support of Hospice of Lubbock.

March 4, 2022 is the 33rd annual Lubbock Mayor's Beans and Cornbread Lunch (with all the fixins)  in support of Hospice of Lubbock.  Hospice of Lubbock provides care for patients with insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, but also provides care for unfunded patients, not just in Lubbock, but in the surrounding counties. As you know, the Hospice mission is to provide end of life dignity, palliative care, and respect for the patient's wishes in the final days 

Typically, this lunch is a major fundraiser for Hospice of Lubbock.  It has included speeches of support, not just from the Mayor of Lubbock, but also from Mayors from surrounding communities and other people who support the Hospice mission.  It has also included opportunity to network with like minded citizens of Lubbock.  In the past, it has also included local music groups providing entertainment. 

Well, because of COVID 19, in 2021, Hospice of Lubbock joined with the YWCA to do a drive through luncheon, and it was very successful, and will be repeated this year. Tickets can be purchased at https://covenanthealth.ejoinme.org/beansandcornbread. Even if you do not want to do a bean and cornbread lunch, you can donate at Hospice of Lubbock | Covenant Health.  

Invasion of Ukraine, and support for the Ukrainian people -Vigil in Lubbock

 On Friday evening March 4, 2022, at 7:15 there will be a candlelight vigil at the Monument of Courage, 84^th and Nashville, Lubbock, Texas.   VFW Post 2466, the Purple Heart Chapter 0900, American Legion Post 575, Friends of the Monument of Courage and others will gather there.

Anyone in the community who is concerned about the Ukrainian invasion by Russia is encouraged to attend.  I have it on good authority that KCBD is investigating appropriate agencies who can help the Ukrainian refugees. I have explored several sights on the internet, but I am not sure I am savvy enough to know which ones are able to provide the needed services using donations in a responsible and appropriate way.,

If you can open your heart, please consider what you can do to help the Ukrainian citizens, either seeking refuge in other countries, or resisting being overtaken by the Russians.

Taki and a toy

When Taki was little she was not particularly interested in toys.   Sometimes, she would play if a human was involved in manipulating the toy, but for only a short period of time, even if enticed with catnip mist.   Sake used to like to play with toys, substituted for grabbing an arm with her front paws, and scratching with her back paws.  Haiku was just not ever really interested in this behavior; she played with feathers, and like Sake, twist ties.  

Taki just never showed any interest.   Tonight, we were playing and she did the front paw grabbing, back paw scratching maneuver, new for her (at age almost 11.)  I went looking for the toys Sake used to use.  Either I gave them away or disposed of them, or stored them some place I could not readily recall. But I found a doll, and after misting it with catnip, shared it with Taki.  She was hesitant at first, but eventually started playing with the doll.  She was on the office recliner, and the doll ended up on the floor several times.   Although she showed no interest in retrieving the toy (Sake would have), when I retrieved it, she played with it for about 45 minutes or so. She eventually just settled down; but this is not unusual behavior for her, so I don't know if it was the play or the catnip mist, or just her typical routine.   

Winter weather

It is January.  We have not had harsh winter weather yet, but we can certainly expect it could happen.  However, during the time I have lived in West Texas, some years we have harsh winter weather, and sometimes, not so much.  2021 was unusual, especially southeast of us, in a part of Texas that is totally unprepared for harsh winter weather, where it occurred and made, I think, international news.   We shall see what 2022 brings.

New Year's Day dawned "mild" with temperatures in the 50s, but by late morning, midday, the temperature dropped quickly.  By 3 PM it was sprinkling, raining, sleeting, and even snowing.  There was not a deep or heavy layer of snow, or more realistically, a layer of snow and ice, but it remained on the ground the 2nd and even today, the 3rd, of January, although the temperatures were above freezing both days.

We need the moisture.  In the urban areas of West Texas, construction parking lots, streets and roads cover the ground and are impermeable to the moisture in the environment. But our lawns, alleys and parks are open to receiving the snow and ice, as are the farm fields and scrub lands in the surrounding areas.  The good thing about this is that as the snow and ice melts, it melts into the ground, instead of running off into the streets and the flood recovery system. 

Water from the surrounding area drains into the Yellowhouse Canyon Draw, which drains into the Blackwater Draw, into the Yellowhouse Canyon, and then to the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River. It is not too complicated, but some of the water is processed through the Lubbock water disposal system, before it proceeds downstream. While not an ideal water reclamation system, it does help. And maybe, as we learn more about reclamation and technology, the system can be improved. 

Happy New Year 2022

This is my greeting to you for 2022.  My wish is that we all have a safe and healthy year. My wish is that people understand the scientific value of COVID 19 vaccination, and booster injections. While not necessarily mandated, the vaccines are an important part of keeping us safe from COVID 19 infections, or at least, serious infections.  

My hope continues, that people understand the importance of ongoing safe health precautions, including mask wearing, as the precautions will be the best way to break the cycle of COVID 19.

As I go about in the community and see people not taking safety precautions, it distresses me that they do not understand that their personal right to not wear safety precautions impinges upon my personal right to be safe in public. If people really understood the Constitution of the United States of Ameria, they would understand that while personal rights are primary in our society, the greater good outweighs the right of the personal right. 

Restarting my hard drive.

Some time ago, I started having trouble with my computer.  I was advised to get it to a computer Tech who could clean the hard drive, look for a virus and see what could be done.  I kept thinking, how long will this take and can I be without my computer that long.   So, I procrastinated until my hard drive crashed.   I thought I had a lot of things saved on my thumb drive.  The most important was the Outlook addresses contact list.  Well, when I tried to load that into the new hard drive, it just corrupted the new Outlook version.  At least I have a couple of efiles, from my own email, and a colleague, who had them just for this purpose, and can re-load everything manually.  I did not save much to the cloud, but enough so I do not have to totally recreate all of the stuff I had in my other folders.   

Emergency services

Two weekends, the emergencies services were at the end of the block

December 16, across the street from my house.

20 years ago, my neighbors would have all been out and checking on the neighbors.  Now we do not even know the neighbors.