Baby in the Back Seat

Bill and I had a discussion about forgotten children left in the back seat of the family car to die. It seems to happen more and more. The agony of the parents is difficult to bear and it makes me cringe when I hear of it on the news. So why does this keep on happening? Well, Bill has a tendency to think in black and white, and in this instance, he hit the nail right on the head. In the old days, your child was always in the front seat, next to you. Even if they fall asleep and are quiet, it’s hard to ignore them since you have a visual cue that they are indeed  in the car with you. Now, with the baby being in the back seat because of new laws, this changes things. This new law has made some parents into criminals. So which is worse? A dead baby, or having to live with the fact that you killed your own child? Sometimes laws create more problems where they didn’t exist before. I think before this happens again, someone needs to stop this. Maybe when you buy a car seat, there should be some kind of alarm? Maybe that alarm should be an ap on your phone? Maybe tie a string to your finger and to the baby? Come on folks, can you give me a hand here? What works?  How can this be stopped?!!

Sugar Ants (and no, I won’t use pesticides in my house)

If you live in Raymond, MS, you know what Sugar Ants are. They invade your kitchen and are almost impossible to get rid of. Heck, they’ll invade any part of your house if there is food there. My husband’s teenage daughters found that out when they left food plates on the floor. Anyway, this year they have been particularly bothersome. I hate seeing long lines of ants raiding my garbage can. So in self defense, I found a simple recipe to get rid of them.

Mix together: 1 cup of water, ½ cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of Borax. Take a cotton ball and saturate it with the solution. Place the cotton balls anywhere the ants are coming in. At first, you will see the ants swarm over the cotton ball. But wait. Within 24 hours, the ants disappear. They take the solution back to their nest and feed it to the others. This greatly reduces their numbers. So far, it’s been 3 days, and I haven’t seen any ants. So give it a try. You can buy Borax at the grocery store or dollar store.

Old People Sitting in the Dark

I must admit that I didn’t think about how dark it is without electricity until I saw the movie about Lincoln, staring Daniel Day Lewis. They filmed in natural light, so inside the house or building it was very dim and gloomy. Now, I’m not the type of person who turns out the light when I exit a room in my house. I keep the lights on. I want things warm and cheerful.

Since I came back to live in Raymond, MS, I have noticed that all the old people here live in the dark. Every time I visit someone, it’s like I’m back in the Lincoln movie. The first thing I ask when I visit is can I turn on some lights in here?  I can barely see you. One friend got new furniture and I didn’t even notice it until months later. Another friend has a beautiful home, but I wonder how she keeps it so clean. You gotta have the lights on to clean something, right? Or another friend who puts on her makeup in the dark. How can she do that!  Or another friend whose partner turns off the lights and air conditioning every time she leaves the house. I’m afraid that would be grounds for murder on a blazing hot August day. All I can do is shake my head and wonder why.  

Blue Jays in My Yard 

I am happy to report that the next generation of Blue Jays have been successfully raised by their parents on cat food. I keep a small bowl of dry cat food on the bench in the back yard. My neighbor’s cats snack on it from time to time. Then one morning, I noticed  Mr. and Mrs. J were taking turns scooping up the food and taking it back to their nest in the Magnolia tree across the street. This went on for a number of weeks, so I learned to listen for their call when they wanted more food. When the babies got old enough, they led the children to the bowl. So now I have Jays in my yard and they are welcome.