Valley of the Moon

Mr. T took me for a drive out through the vineyards and some of the back roads in the Valley of the Moon. The beauty takes one's breath away. All the vines are tied up so neatly to their stakes,

the mustard flowers are neon yellow and the quaintness of the valley houses and gardens just scream "take my picture!" I will post some of the pictures I took from our drive but first I need to let you in on the crime watch from the little town of Kenwood--our neighboring village. This police report is from March 1st when "deputies responded to a trespass report at 8:30 am. There they found a 52 year old woman hugging a back hoe to stop what she considered improper or illegal grading for a new home next to her residence. She was warned that if she continued, she'd be arrested. An hour later, deputies were called back, found the woman hugging a bulldozer, and hauled her off to county jail, where she was booked for misdemeanor trespass. The neighbor told police he had all the necessary county permits to do his grading."

Is this really about permits or is it about ruining someone's view? Did this backhoe hugger/bulldozer hugger start off as a tree hugger? Will the natives start hugging SUVs next?

New Invention To Make Housework Easier

I HAD a filthy dirty grimey drawstring on my kitchen mini-blinds. Cleaning those disgusting cords had been at the back of my mind since moving into the condo 3 months ago--but how? Does one take down the miniblinds, unstring them, run the offending strings through the washer and then try and reassemble the entire thing? No way was that going to happen! Should I use a toothbrush with Comet on it and just brush away until the stiff black grease was gone? Not going to happen either. And then--out of BIRGHTIDEALAND came the thunderbolt of inspiration! Build it and it will get clean!


I began with the first stage--an empty tall box that held Pepsi cans. I was on the right track but it wasn't tall enough to reach the cord. No problem--I'll just add another box. That was too wobbly so I inserted a cookie sheet on top of the Pepsi box for stability--Voila! That worked.

Now for the guts of the system: a tall cup filled with my favorite cleaning solution--Cascade in hot water! After getting it all balanced I then coiled the drawstrings into the liquid. In about one hour I checked how it was coming--the water was dark grey and the cords were all white and clean! Empty out the dirty water, replace with clean water, and soak cords a bit longer.

I pass this along so all my Faithful Readers can build their own Miniblinds Drawstring Cleaning System before the patent application is final. But just remember--you heard about it here first.

Church as Penance

It is Lent. And the abuse of the Faithful continues. I remembered a church only 45 minutes away that had a long tradition of having a noontime mass during Lent. After 2 weeks of wonderful rest I had some extra energy so I drove to my old haunts. I had forgotten the extent of liturgical undermining in this diocese.

Upon entering the beautiful, stately old Church I automatically reached towards the holy water font to bless myself--ROADBLOCK!!! NO HOLY WATER!


















Some misguided(giving the benefit of the doubt)Hall Monitor had removed the Holy Water and put a high-tone fan-folded dinner napkin in every font. I suppose I should appreciate that at least the napkin was purple (this same parish insists on using blue for Advent). I suppose I should be thankful that the trendy sand of some years ago was gone. But still.....I was illegally denied my right as a Catholic to the comfort and benefit of blessing myself with Holy Water.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/03/empty-holy-water-fonts-during-lent-grrrrrr/

Perhaps the five week absence from the abuse of the local manifestation of the Catholic Church in this area had softened me up. I didn't feel anger--only extreme sadness. Perhaps I need to upgrade my full panoply so the vulnerable areas aren't so vulnerable. One grows weary of the continuous beating down of the faithful who put up with so much and ask so little.

Oh yes--this church doesn't have the lenten noontime mass anymore.

+ + +

In case you didn't read the entire article posted on the link above, here's the proper practice concerning sacramentals--and Holy Water is a sacramental--during Lent.

Prot. N. 569/00/L

March 14, 2000

Dear Father:

This Congregation for Divine Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.

This Dicastery is able to respond that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:

1. The liturgical legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.

2. The encouragement of the Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of the [sic] of her sacraments and sacramentals is to be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The "fast" and "abstinence" which the faithful embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church.

The practice of the Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water at the Easter Vigil, and it corresponds to those days on which the Eucharist is not celebrated (i.e., Good Friday and Holy Saturday).

Hoping that this resolves the question and with every good wish and kind regard, I am, Sincerely yours in Christ, [signed] Mons. Mario Marini [Now the Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei] Undersecretary

A HALL MONITOR Finds the Secret Hide Out

I have returned with Byrdie to the secret swimming hole down at the creek about 5 times. I should have known that one of the SeniorLand HALL MONITORS would show up and try to steal my joy.
























I was up on the sidewalk and Byrdie was down in the creek madly looking for her lost tennis ball. An army of squirrels could have run over her and she would not have been deterred from her search! Remember, the creek is about 15' down a steep embankment and not even visible from the walking path unless one goes off the path into the leaves and peers through brambles, branches and leaves. But along comes this woman with two dogs on leashes. She stopped a good 47' from where I was waiting for Byrdie to give up her search and begins to harangue me about leash laws, my dog was OFF the leash, she was not GOING TO MOVE ONE STEP until I leashed my dog and other intemperate mouthings off.

















At first I just stared at her--was she for real? But, alas, she was. Dear Readers, what happened next is not pretty so if you need to check your email I will understand. I remind you that I had already had my ugly encounter with the HOA HALL MONITOR over the legal status of the gardeners so I was not in the mood for anymore of this bossiness. I resorted to phony astonishment over my dog not being on a leash. Then I boomed at her as loudly as I could, "Are you planning on throwing my dog's ASS IN JAIL????" This took her quite aback but her inner nastiness triumphed over her temporary startle at having been confronted. Giving as good(I thought 'better') than I got, this verbal sparring went on for a few minutes until the HALL MONITOR called me an "idiot" and stomped off--apparently overcoming her threat not to move until I had leashed my dog.



















Fortunately, Byrdie remained oblivious to this woman's inanities and never did clamber up the embankment. Unfortunately, my own excellent verbal abilities probably would have me removed from the books of Junior League had anyone been taking notes.














However, on the way home from the creek, I spotted this bumper sticker. I rejoice! There are others here like me!


















I will not let anyone take away the fun of this magical spot. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are more pics of the swimming hole.

The Secret Swimming Hole

Shhhhhh! Don't Tell Anyone!



















I remember the special attraction of "secret hideouts" from childhood. For me, those special places were an olive tree where I could get onto the garage roof and be out of sight of the parents while still having a view over the rest of the neighborhood; a little trail that twisted through high grass in an empty lot and came out at the remains of an old chimney of a long-abandoned house; a window we could open and squeeze through into an old basement apartment; old "jack rabbit" houses out on the desert that marked someone's homesteading Mojave acreage.

SeniorLand is in Sonoma County--surely one of the country's most beautiful spots. I was walking Byrdie and Talus along a path that runs on the banks of a small, running stream about 15 feet below. The trees hang over the creek, there are little waterfalls and the big boulders are green with moss. Most of the year the creek is dry but after a rainy winter like the one we just had, the water is flowing and making delightful water sounds.


















Byrdie loves to swim so I was especially excited to find a spot where I could slide down the leaves on the embankment to the water. At the base of one of the old oaks was a genuine swimming hole--deep enough for her to have to swim to get across it. The joy watching her chase the ball into the water and swim around in the pooled hole was so much like the best times of childhood! I can sit on the edge of the creek and delight in the sunbeams pouring down through the high trees, smell the bay leaves and listen to all the wonderful gurgling sounds the little creek makes. (Talus, being the whiney little poodle he is has to stay in the car when I visit my secret hideout.) And, of course, Byrdie provides the comic entertainment by trying to hold the ball under water, batting at it, losing it and then madly searching for it. She will bring me the ball and toss it up from the water practically into my lap.



















The "secret hideout" part comes in when I hear the occasional walker going by high above me. They can't see me because the creek is quite a ways down and not many of the Seniors are going to risk the trek down to the bottom of the creek bed. I feel like a little kid again--hiding out in the tall grass and tree roots, just being quiet until they have passed. I don't want anyone to disturb the magical spot I've found!

MamaToc and the Time of Harassment

In installments I will let you in on the letter from the Hall Monitor of SeniorLand.

Dear Mrs. Toc:

In response to your phone call of Feb 26 to our landscape service company and your recent attempt to speak directly with one of the landscapers,

--I made no such attempt--they don't even speak English anyway!

we would like to remind you that individual owners are not to communicate directly with our service providers.....

--I have limits placed on to whom I speak?

Addressing your question about the immigration status of the landscape crew, based solely on your alleged observation of the workers(s) speaking Spanish, we call to your attention that *.* Landscaping is a large, respected, and legitimate company which would not risk their reputation or government retaliation by knowingly hiring illegals.

--Wonder if WalMart said the same thing and what is this GOVERNMENT RETALIATION? Does it have to do with wiretapping SeniorLand phone lines? Will the tanks begin to roll into SeniorLand?

Many workers in this and other industries speak English as a second language, and speak Spanish among themselves. We are sure that you must know that not speaking English well does not imply illegal status....

--I have noticed a very direct correlation between speaking the language of a country and being a legal resident of that country

The SeniorLand Board has a relationship of trust with all of our contractors and does not find it necessary to police their hiring practices.

--Isn't checking out a service's hiring policies part of hiring a service???

To do so would constitute harassment and would put us at risk of losing their services.

--Who is doing the hiring? Shouldn't the service provider be concerned about losing business, not the other way 'round? Checking out a future employee is now considered harassment?

For further clarification regarding civil rights violations involving language usuage issues in the workplace, please see the attached release from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

--Now this was a huge jump! Civil rights violations? Do they mean the violation of my civil right to ask a question about workers working within 3 feet of my front door? And by the way, the "big attachment" was a report issued as far as I can tell by people of only Hispanic surnames and quoting only people whose obvious interest was in the way the verdict was decided.

*.* Landscape in particular is in great demand at this time since several Associations in SeniorLand have, like ours, recently engaged the company because of their superiority in the field. (Pun?) In any case, we are a volunteer Board of Governors and are not authorized by the CC&Rs to do such invasive research,

--they're not required to investigate the hiring record of their employees? Do they check for felons? Child molesters? Scam artists who prey on Senior Citizens?

(which your demand requires)

--I made no demands--I merely asked if they employed documented workers

on our many service providers (painters, building contractors, tree contractors, street finishers, plumbers, and electricians among others). This community does not have the financial resources to hire the qualified professionals needed to carry out that kind of extensive research, even if this Board were inclined to do so, which we are not.

--let me see--the board is not inclined to hire qualified professionals?

Furthermore, this community enjoys living in an area of racial & ethnic diversity,

--this is the biggest joke of all! SeniorLand is in one of the most affluent, white, highly-educated areas of the nation!http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06097.html

(notice that white persons make up 89.9% of Sonoma County! And just 8.2% of the population is below the poverty level. I won't even go into what the median house price is in this area!)

and do not support any discrimination based on race, ethnicity or country or origin of any of our work crews. We have informed all who were affected by your telephone calls

--ALL??? Who is the ALL???

that you do not speak for our community nor do you have the authority to do so.

--I speak for myself--and I did not speak--I asked a single flippin' question!

In the interest of the fair and equitable treatment of everyone, our landscape crew is instructed not to engage in conversation with individual homeowners or residents.

--Did I get this right? They now forbid the work crews from speaking to other folk? So much for their First Amendment rights--oh wait! I forgot--if they speak in a language other than English, it is permitted!

They are polite, hard working men who are hired to do a job, as instructed, not to engage in conversation or take directions except from their foreman. In the future, please abide by our procedures: do not harass the work crews or their primary employers, and address any concerns in the manner indicated in the first paragraph above.

We expect your cooperation in this matter.

--Expect my cooperation? Oh gentle readers--what should MamaToc do?

Very truly yours,

Mrs. HALL MONITOR

DEFINITELY NOT WHERE SENIORLAND IS LOCATED!

NOT HERE EITHER!

Hall Monitors

INTIMIDATING

Not intimidating

I have a theory. Back in the fourth grade a certain number of us were appointed HALL MONITORS. In my school the designated HALL MONITOR was given a badge of some sort that was worn around the neck and you got to stand in the hall and warn other students not to run, push or go over the line dividing the two-way traffic in the corridors. If a student persisted in such subversive behavior the HALL MONITOR could write down the perp's name and leave it at the OFFICE. This was POWER! This was for many, the first taste in INTIMIDATION. For some it tripped the Little Nazi Switch and it has never turned off. These little HALL MONITORS went on to become adults who generally became Liberals. They still need to feel some patronizing control over others. They need to make up rules if none exist to control someone else's behavior. The monster that was unleashed the first time they turned in a name to the principal grew over the years into an entitlement mentality--entitled to enforce pettiness.

Since moving to a senior retirement community a few months ago I am astonished at the number of little nazis running around, harassing others for infractions of the most trivial rules one can imagine. Well--HALL MONITORS can imagine. Let me begin what promises to be a drawn-out saga in this little HOA community.

Does this look like a setting for the growing of fascists? This is the view from my kitchen window. We have gardeners. They are all Mexican. They all only speak Spanish. Remembering my experiences in Bakersfield I got to wondering if they are legal workers in this country or just some undocumented men picked up down at the local Home Depot.

So--I called the Landscape business--the truck was in front of my kitchen window with the phone number blazoned across it--and got the owner. He was quite nice and I asked him if the workers around my home were legally here. He said that of course all his workers were legal and wouldn't be on his payroll if they weren't. This seemed satisfactory to me and that was the end of the conversation.

Imagine my surprise when today in the mail I got a letter from some woman who signed a very intimidating HALL MONITOR mentality letter criticizing me for asking my question! She enclosed a copy of some article from some newspaper in Texas that spoke of lawsuits for millions of dollars against employers who had tried to ban employees from speaking Spanish at the workplace. The parts about being sued were in yellow highlight! The tone was highly patronizing and slightly menacing.

How did this woman know that I called the head gardener? More of this story will unfold. She has not returned my 2 phone calls of today. But I'll just sum up by saying this letter tried to infringe on my first amendment right of free speech, infringe on my right of free association, accused me of trying to talk to the workers--I didn't--hey! they don't speak English!--but would that have been illegal anyway? My conversation with the landscape contractor was referred to as "invasive research" yet I was told the gardeners were hired because of their "superiority in the field." I wonder if they had to do "invasive research" to discover how splendid these gardeners are?

This letter ran to two pages! Carbon copies were sent to the landscape company as well as to some ATTORNEY AT LAW. Wow--I am shaking in my boots! I am also asked to "cooperate" and not harass any work crews. VE VILL EXPECT YOUR KOOPERATION!!

Now how can a reasonable person not be astonished at someone taking the time to type out a two page harangue over nothing? I recognize the tactic--it is the tactics of nazis and other fascists. I will keep you posted. I will keep the world posted! And you, my faithful readers, I will never forget you even though I be sent to some far gulag for my seditious question.