Return from Tucson

I have returned from my trip to Tucson.  The trip wherein I landed just before a monsoon of biblical proportions, suffered from heat and humidity, and the airlines in general.  On the way down, in the Seattle airport, they told us we could have one roller bag and one small item, and that one's purse counted as the small item.  My roller bag, backpack and purse put me over the limit, and I would incur a $25 fine according to the announcement.  I put my purse in the backpack and all was well. THIS is what I saw yesterday departing Tucson.  WHY IS THIS MAN ALLOWED TO CARRY ON THIS MANY LARGE BAGS?  There is a backpack, something draped over his arm, a roller bag and the sarcophagus he is dragging.  My displeasure with flying knows no limits.

 

When we departed yesterday, another line of storms was approaching the airport.  Given the amount of lightning that is generated, they have to get the ground people under cover.  The cabin attendants were on the microphone telling people to hurry, sit down, we gotta go, they're going to close the airport!  We made it out, it was good.

 

Rain over the city.

 

Are not the clouds lovely?

 

Those of you who are familiar with Tucson in the summer no doubt wonder what possessed me to go there in July.  My brother has had memory and cognition issues for awhile.  He called in distress, so I went down to see him.  He's not seen a doctor because he's unemployed and has no health coverage.  In Arizona, if one does not have a dependent child, one is not eligible for Medicaid.  So for all of the unemployed people in my brother's demographic, the state offers no help.  One of the things we did was go to El Rio Community Health.  They are a low cost clinic.  We had to be there early to see a case worker.  While sitting on the curb, queueing for entrance, I listened to two women talking.  One was an older woman with really terrible asthma.  She had been on Medicaid, but when she received a Social Security COLA, it put her $3 over the income level cut off and she lost coverage.  The other woman was talking about her daughter who had made the choice to quit her job to keep her Medicaid.  She wanted to work, but could not afford to take the risk of leaving her kids with no medical coverage.  It's just unfathomable to me how it's come to this.  It seems the politicians are very concerned about the unborn, but once born, the concern is over. That's about as much rant as I'm going to indulge in.

On to a food rant.  We have an obesity crisis in this country.  Why are people eating this stuff?  Is there anyone on the planet who does not know that deep fat fried batter dipped hot dogs are bad for you?

 

I'm depressing myself, so I think I'll stop talking now.