|
Thursday June 22, 2000 "Not the owner of any possessions will you be right to call happy. He more rightly deserves the name of happy who knows how to use the gods' gifts wisely and to put up with rough poverty, and who fears dishonor more than death." Horace
Livestock
pecans
wordly goods |
|
all their wordly goods I work. I have a couple of pretty good meetings. The movers show up a little after eleven and our seller and FFP go over to begin storing my parents' stuff in the garage. It's a hot afternoon of trudging up and down the inclined drive for the moving men. Dad and Mom arrive. Dad's first priority is to unload his livestock. He has retrieved three box turtles from his old backyard and he unloads them into an area under the tree in back. His next priority is to unpack his pecans. The seller has to move now or else give up frozen dinners. They go for $5/bag if you are interested. We unload the contents of the wardrobes in some closets. I can't tell you how odd it is to see a few pieces of furniture that you have literally seen your entire life hauled off a truck and stuck in a garage. My parents are so frugal. Sure, they have given away a couch. They gave away a trailer and also bought the donee a trailer hitch. But they aren't giving up the pecans they've so carefully shelled. Dad has a variety of old tools. There's a desk chair I used in junior high. Finally it is stowed. Dad informs me that he still has to go back to Dallas for one more load. I can't imagine what else it is or where we will put it when we get it. The garage is nearly full and the bedroom cleared by the seller is as well. There's a pile in our storeroom already and the storage unit is almost full. I feel exhausted. I can't imagine how tired my dad is. We go back to their house and get Mom's purse she's forgotten. I take them to Luby's. Something familiar. (I have enchiladas with salad and green beans.) When we get home, FFP is unloading groceries. Dad helps and stumbles on the steps. FFP is behind him and gives a push to right him and keep him from falling. I worry about him. But he says he's fine and gets in the easy chair and dozes while Mom calls her friends here and tells them she is almost moved. I see the media is up in arms about Gary Graham. Gosh, yes, what a wonderful guy. Apparently one of his victims who lived was on Larry King. A victim alive only due to a superhuman effort to wrest a shotgun from the guy while he was trying to kill him. You know, this guy won't ever kill anyone again. Or even get to try. Too bad the Supreme Court and a Parole Board made up of much less conscientious people let Kenneth McDuff out of jail after his death sentences weren't carried out. A woman could have washed her car at 9PM on a busy 5th street without being abducted and murdered. Personally, if they kept them in jail forever, it would be OK with me. But lots of people die everyday. Lyndon Johnson sentenced tens of thousands to die in chaos in Viet Nam. Life and death aren't fair. Surely there are better causes than Gary Graham. Take a moment to think of the victims. Graham's case had been reviewed by 33 state and federal judges. I'll bet his victim would have liked that kind of consideration. FFP and I wondered, amid this hoopla, whether anyone was executed while Ann Richards was governor. The WEB is a wonderful thing: Ann Richards occupied the governor's mansion from January 15, 1991 to January 17, 1995. Lawrence Buxton, Black, executed 02/26/1991. Ignacio Cuevas, Hispanic, executed 05/23/1991. Jerry Bird, White, executed 06/17/1991. I could go on. There are about 47 more. I don't really know whether to give Bush or Richards credit for the one executed on January 17, 1995. Mario Marquez kind of got lost in the inauguration, I guess. And don't write me and tell me there have been more under Bush. I can see that. I'm looking at the facts. One of them is McDuff, you know. |
|
