I'm Too Relieved to be Too Terribly Angry

Way back on April 15th, Pepper and I did the Concealed Carry Course and I mailed off our packets the next day.  The packets were returned some three weeks later because I had enclosed personal checks for the fees instead of cashier's checks.  I corrected the oversight and mailed them back in the next day.

*sigh*

My 34th anniversary gift was a sweet little .22 that fits my hand perfectly, together with a neat little holster that nestles divinely in the small of my back.

Our anniversary was June 9th.

Still waiting.

Having been mailed from Baton Rouge on July 3rd, Pepper's permit arrived in our mailbox last Saturday, the 7th.  He and Bouie have been having safer walks since.  But what about Moogie's?

Do you see where this is going?

I rifled through Saturday's mail in the trash and combed through magazines and advertising circulars searching for the envelope.  I was just about to fear I'd failed the background check, but I strongly suspected that an envelope bearing the return address, "Concealed Handgun Permit Unit," had been mis-delivered by our cracker-jack postal carrier to some thug's house who was going to alter the photo and use it for no good.  I've re-delivered mis-delivered mail so often around here that I should be on the USPS payroll.  Then, this afternoon I got a Facebook message from my good neighbor to tell me that he had just put an important-looking envelope in my mailbox that had been delivered to his house by mistake.  And my good neighbor is not a thug!!

So, now I'm legal!!!

Thanks, R.C.!

(The picture of me is absolutely horrid, so I covered it up to spare your eyes.  I hope I don't ever have to show it to anyone!)

From the Inbox -- in the "Only in New Orleans" Folder

In today's email blast from the New Orleans Police Department:

On 07-04-12 at about 4:10am an alarm went off at the Audubon Zoo Swamp Gift Shop. While conducting their morning rounds at about 7:30am, Audubon Security observed pry marks to one of the gift shop doors, and a broken window pane near the bottom door latch. A check of the location revealed 10 baby alligators to be missing from the tank within the gift shop. On 07-05-12 Sixth District Officers responded to a call of 8 baby alligators abandoned in a plastic storage bin at the corner of Surrapru and Russeau St. Upon arrival zoo personnel were able to identify the alligators as the same animals taken from the gift shop. A witness was able to provide a description of the vehicle which had dropped the alligators off at the intersection, and then fled the scene. On the same evening, JPSO Deputies stopped a stolen vehicle, which was positively identified via photograph by the witness as the same which had dropped off the alligators. JPSO Deputies made and apprehension, and while conducting a check of the vehicle, located 1 baby alligator inside the vehicle. The witness was able to identify Thornton, Rodney (B/M 07-15-82) and one Powell, Kawayne (B/M 01-31-92) as having been the subjects who placed the alligators in her front yard, prior to her moving them out to the street and notifying the police. A warrant was issued on 07-09-12 for the arrest of both Thornton and Powell charging them with La. R.S. 14:69 Relative to Possession of Stolen Property.

Thank goodness for stupid criminals. Can't you just picture them, sitting out on the front stoop, having a beer, and chillin' when one of them says, "Hey, I've got an idea . . . ."

Happy Independence Day 2012

From Moogie's Mansion . . .

And Bouie.

Next Up fom the Enumerated Taxation Power --

Makes sense to me.

*sigh*

Idyllic

I must give my brain a rest before I overload too many neurons, So I think I'll focus on something pleasant.  Hmmm.  What's pleasant these days?

This is what early summer 2012 looks like around Moogie's Mansion:

A little light lunch of leftover goodness with a sweet buddy on the front porch.

And no politicians.

Ahhhh.

The Best of Healthcare Reform

I spent a good deal of the morning re-reading my posts on Healthcare Reform dating back to 2009.  It turns out that I was pretty spot on about a lot of stuff.  There are 43 of them, but these are some of my favorites:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Words Not Necessary

Courtesy of IMAO.

 

 

And:

 

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Health Care Reform Vote and the Slow-Learners in Congress

I obviously have not forgiven him for uttering it, because I certainly haven't forgotten it, but my husband made an observation a number of years ago that I think has particular applicability to Congress's vote last night on the House health care reform bill.

When I was first learning to play at golf (I still haven't learned to "play" it, just "play at" it), Pepper and I started playing "Twilight Couples" rounds in which we were paired with another couple and assigned some bizarre format designed to produce a divorce or two per round. On one of those blissful Friday evenings, I blew a putt. Actually, I had blown several putts on several different holes in one of those formats that, in addition to boosting the bottom line at the divorce lawyer's firm, had the added benefit of torturing the weaker player in a twosome.

 

The "weaker player" -- that would be me.

 

Anyway, after I blew the third or fourth putt, my precious soulmate turned red in the face as that vein in his forehead popped out, stared me down, and in a measured tone a few octaves higher than his normal speaking voice that turned the surrounding air a little blue, spat out the words: "G.D., Moogie! Even a monkey learns after watching other monkeys for a little while!!!"

 

For some reason that I still fail to understand to this day, I chose to finish the round and not leave him. And a few days later, I got a really nice gift -- it may even have been sparkly. That's kinda how my precious soulmate apologizes when he knows he's really screwed up.

 

So, when that memory floated to the top of my consciousness this morning as I dissected yesterday's House vote in my cozy bed, a whole bunch of monkeys and apes sprang to life right before my eyes. Monkeys named Canada, Sweden, England, Massachusetts, Tennessee. Apes that had played with socialized healthcare and figured out that it doesn't work; monkeys that watched its citizens losing way too many balls in a bottomless rough without boundaries; apes that were living the old joke about how to play a really long round with the partner who had a heart attack on the course: hit the ball, drag Fred; hit the ball, drag Fred.

 

Next, I realized that I'm Fred. You'll be Fred. Our grandkids will have to pay Fred's greens fees and drag us around without so much as being able to tee one up. And then I realized that those monkeys we've been watching have given up on this game because the rules aren't fair, the game is way too confusing and expensive, and there aren't enough tee times to go around.

 

Damn, Congress! Even monkeys can learn after watching other monkeys for awhile!

 

Those apes on Capitol Hill must be a little slow. We'll have to use very small words while explaining the error of their way. And take away their bananas.

 

Somehow I don't think we'll be getting a nice gift, though -- sparkly or otherwise. Maybe just a little more monkey poo flung in our direction.

 

Yeah, I certainly feel like I've been pelted with monkey poo today.  *sigh*

Speechless

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what CJ Roberts has done, so I won't comment yet.  I will share, however, a few of the goodies knocking around Facebook today.

This one might say it all.