Musings of  a Senior Scribe
Virginia and the US Army
By Mona Lease

Hi, all!! Virginia surprised me with a visit last weekend. I noticed that I start to breathe shallowly when she appears. Don't get me wrong - Virginia is most welcome - where ever I am - publicly or privately. She just has this way of showing me things that I should have seen - or, I think I should have seen.

We ended up watching her neighbor spray weed killer on piles of tree clippings laying on the ground. With the wind blowing, he sprayed weeds that were growing up a tree and the tree, too. There looks to be a good 4" of dead growth around the fences, trees, house, etc. It is his house and his right to spray weed killer into the wind. Here's where I tend to breathe really shallowly.

Virginia asked me to consider this - Most people say there is not much for the kiddies to do - that's why the trouble from them. But like the weeds - kiddies are in every neighborhood.

Virginia said she has a male friend who was in our US Army. They were trained to carry two prepared shots with them. If they were ever exposed to any chemical fallout, etc. - they were to inject shot #1 into their thigh. They were then to count off one or two minutes and inject shot #2 into their thigh. He said they practiced this. It causes profuse - that is shower-like sweating. This is to get the body to rid itself of as much of the poison as possible.

Virginia pulled it together this way: If we took the weed killer money and paid a kiddie to pull the weeds - what would happen? If we showed the kiddies the "tares from the wheat" - that is, the weeds from the good we want to keep that will help us live - grass, trees, milk thistle (butterflies live on this), etc. - will we solve two problems?

We, as a people, have railed and moaned against sweating, itchy weeds, and the like. But, are we really throwing away the one true answer to our problems? Is our "answer" as simple as - GULP - sweating?? SCORE: Virginia 2 Mona 0.

Remember the kiddies and our service people. Be good to the furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next time. Ever Toodles!! MONA