And a great Saturday morning to all. It’s been an excellent week in the ‘Nati and I hope yours was as good as well. And now I hear Mr. Coffee happily perking away in the background and so, my morning begins. We ran out of our regular go-to coffee from White Castle (White Castle of ‘slider’ fame). However buried deep in the bowels of our little condo’s ‘pantry’ was an unopened can of Café du Monde coffee, New Orleans’ best.

Those of you who’ve had the stuff can’t forget the taste. If you have yet to enjoy a cup at New Orleans’ French Market along with a warm ‘Beignet’ you’ll not soon forget. It’s the ‘blast’ of Chicory mixed in which makes it oh so distinct; anyway, no Beignets for me this morning. Possibly it’ll be a Dutch Rusk later on.

Coffee, the finest organic suspension ever devised. ~ Star Trek: Voyager

Taxes – For me life has become dramatically simpler. For almost the past twenty years I would race over to my CPA, Ed’s office, late in March. For almost twenty years he’d dutifully file for an extension, and then in early fall I’d cut a check and race over to his office. That was the ‘norm’ of my tax filing.

Last year I decided to take a “path less traveled” and ordered a copy of TurboTax. Hence, yesterday was THE day and so TurboTax was again seen on my computer screen. Paperwork was strewn all over the dining room table and in a circle by my feet, add a calculator, 1099 forms, 1099Rs, forms with “Div” printed here and there, and a small handful from a file marked ‘donations’. I dreaded it. But, this year they hooked me because it remembered the details from last year and so it actually became even easier. By dinnertime I had submitted both Federal and State taxes and by the time we finished eating both had been accepted. Yessss!

Marcia said that I still looked like I did on ‘Tax-day’ each and every past year. I’m not so certain. Are you casting your vote for Marcia or moi?

Another week, another Debate – To be honest, I really hadn’t watched the earlier ones much – seemed like watching the minor leagues. Now, with a reduction in players and the addition of Mike, I gave it a shot. What a sad spectacle. The new entrant was an outright disaster. Warren appeared much like that obnoxious second grader flapping arms around looking for attention; “teacher, teacher, me, me, oh, oh, me”. Nearly all seemed just plain angry.

At least Bernie stayed on queue. ‘Queue’ that is until his personal wealth was brought to light and like a good ‘commie’ this had him give that ‘Deer in the headlights’ look. Trying to explain away his $600,000 summer house as a ‘camp’ was totally lame. But, I do have a solution. With this gang, scrape them all off the ‘table’. There is probably enough time to garner a totally new fresh bunch – in other words; start over.

Mental Health – Immediately after my college days I began working for our State’s Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. It only makes sense that I take note of the affairs of how we began and have continued to deal with that population. It’s been a DISASTER.

About the time that I left it was deemed that individual rights were paramount and so, all across the nation, residential institutions were closed. The new ‘freedoms’ allowed for seriously mentally Ill people to wander around with minimal or zero support – after all, they had the right to choose, independent of whether or not they could. This in part accounts for our massive homeless populations.

This week President Trump, for the first time in over 50 years, took a stand for the Mentally Ill, by including in his budget language for Medicaid funding for institutional care. The White House’s move to ease the restrictions will improve care. Of the hundreds of thousands who bounce from jail to jail, prisons, and shelters on any given night, fewer than 40,000 are in state psychiatric hospitals. This situation can now be addressed. Thank you Mr. President.

The Corner – has been remarkably quiet; no Chaos or Mayhem. That doesn’t mean that it’s been totally quiet. The ‘urban’ happenings keep on happening. A week or so ago EMT were across the street when a woman reportedly came down with a stroke, Then a couple of days ago, again EMTs, were called to a few doors up the street for a Diabetic situation. It’s never a dull moment.

     

Fini – This is the week of the kiss heard round the country. February 19, 1972 is when Sammy Davis, Jr. kissed Carroll O’Connor’s character Archie Bunker on the TV sitcom All in the Family. See, we oldies remember this stuff.

Marcia will hate this, but I love it. This past week in 1876 Sardines were 1st canned – in Eastport – Maine. So there!

And, something I meant to make note of but didn’t at that time is that on January 27 we had Holocaust Remembrance Day. That day is set aside to commemorate the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 11 million others, by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Never forget.

And tomorrow a very Happy Birthday to our family’s Tuba Player and soon to be High School senior; Derek. Wow, number 17 already!

Marcia and Adrianne joined forces to paint their very own pillow case. ‘Gnomes’ had to be the subject of their artistic endeavor. The three hour class produced these amazing results.

Make it great week and stay safe!
Dirk

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