Today, July 28, is when new immigration law, SB1070, takes effect

It's been some time since the new law came before Governor Janet Brewer and she signed it into law. Since then I have seen a number of changes in Arizona. First let me say that a judge right now is trying to decide what the outcome will be of the Federal Government's law suit against Arizona and SB1070. Surprisingly some parts of the law will be retained we have already learned. Some of it is expected to be deemed illegal.
The biggest change I have noticed is the fact that illegals no longer feel as welcome as they did before after crossing the border and coming here to a 'new life.' A number of illegals have packed up and left the state hoping to find more hospitable homes in some other state, but perhaps not realizing that attitudes there are beginning to harden, too, about accommodating people who are in our country illegally. I feel that a good deal of their pain has been caused by the federal government not acting when it was plain immigration laws were being violated by such a large number of people crossing the border constantly. It was as though every refugee in the world was running to the border states to cross while the US was still so hospitable to illegals.
Naturally any kind of crackdown was going to cause upset and pain to any people who had in years past been safe once they settled here with nobody seeming to notice their presence. That must have seemed like heaven to some of these poor people who had gambled on leaving difficult conditions and sometimes even dire poverty in their own country to come north. But these years of unchecked illegal crossings for many were bound to come to an end sooner or later. And now those still without any legal status are caught in the crunch. My perception is that a number did not even try to get green cards with which they will not be deported, but counted on favorable conditions remaining the same.
So in a sense that world has ended for illegals. Now is a time of turmoil, paranoia, and upset.
I blame the Presidents and congress for not acting so that so many would not be so affected. It is not a good thing to be good to people when you can't afford it. When eventually there was going to be a rebellion as there has been in Arizona.
I supported SB1070 because of having lived 20 years in a 90 percent Mexican area and seeing how violent those poor neighborhoods were trying to adjust to the constant influx of illegals. Not many of Hispanic origins were going to raise an outcry because their own ancestors may have settled here and been illegal for years. But when peaceful neighborhoods got increasingly more violent, constant gun fire, crimes going on that are naturally going to happen in an unsettled population, everyone was hurting. It was an eyeopener to me to deal with constant gunfire around my apartment complex, and this went on for years. I am very sure those neighborhoods have gotten even more violent.
A man told me that his sister and her husband who migrated from Mexico years ago and were able to buy their own little home are now surrounded with such violence they feel trapped. Nobody is going to buy their home. I inquired and discovered they lived in the same neighborhood where I lived. He said he moved downtown from another HUD complex close by where he hardly dared go out and walk around. He is so relieved to be living downtown he keeps saying how happy he is. Not hearing gunfire on a daily basis affects him the same way it did me.
I would be petrified one of my kids would get shot when they left the house. My son told me you did not get shot on the basketball court and before the year was out, somebody was shot and killed on a basketball court close by for purposes of robbery. I was so relieved when members of my family and I were finally able to leave those violent neighborhoods for good. I have to say that I found the gunfire in that neighborhood intolerable and I felt that it would never calm down until something was done about illegal immigration.
In more ways than one the numbers of illegals were keeping these neighborhoods in constant turmoil. So not only did they have homegrown violence but they had violent criminality from Mexico to contend with. I would say that for every peaceful illegal just wanting a job there is one who wanted to take advantage of the drug action, some way, any way, and all the drug trafficking to Mexico was infecting the young, everybody in the neighborhood. I would say that the first thing that needs to be done to tackle drug trafficking more effectively is control immigration.
I talked to a lot of people while living in my complex and heard many stories, some of which I have already recounted in my blog, so was able to see how vulnerable women for example would be constantly pulled into a relationship to help out an illegal. There was always interaction with Mexico. With so many no family would go untouched by illegal immigration.
The people could not do anything about it. The changes had to come from higher up, from government and law enforcement realizing just what illegal immigration was doing to the citizens. It was lowering the standards of living for everybody, and there was no control over Mexico. It just seemed to be an absurd thing for the US to be on the receiving end of so many people unable to find an acceptable life in Mexico. This was bound to end at some point, at a point when the US would start to resemble Mexico in trying to sustain a population made unstable by the constant flow of illegals. Think of it, and then you might be able to imagine just what that could and did do to neighborhoods.
Some have suggested perhaps Mexico needs to conquer the US and then the problem would be solved or the US Mexico? I do think congress has lacked members for years who really wanted to work on this knotty problem. They would evade it, put it off, turn a blind eye to it. The politicians are always afraid if they tackle a big problem it will make them unpopular somehow and they will not be re-elected. So they are always going to wait until after election to do anything. Nobody ever put a top priority on this problem, or at least not until now. So Arizona has been in a sense the villain, who may be punished by the US Federal government for doing it, to finally take drastic enough measures to make a dent.
Yes, illegals are scared. And they are just people who took a chance that so many before them have done and succeeded. I feel the sorriest for the kids, for it is hard to feel you are not wanted. But this happens when laws are passed, immigration is supposed to be achieved lawfully, and then the breaking of the law by an astronomical number of people is simply ignored. Congress members don't want to be reminded. Oh that, well we are going to have to address that someday.
But if you neglect dealing with a problem for years, you raise the hopes of many who have indeed been rewarded for coming into the country illegally. Cracking down hurts! What hurts children and families hurts us all.
It is very sad, but Mexico is at last beginning to act as though illegal immigration has finally gotten the attention of the American PEOPLE. And when enough of the citizens pay attention they are probably not going to just forget all about it this time. Until change is affected. Now people are seeing that their neighborhoods, their cities are going to be affected with more refugees than they can handle. And so I believe that pressure will continue to be put on the illegals crossing the border in as many ways as possible, to try to get the flow, the flood, down to a more reasonable trickle.
The US can't be the hope and dream of every poor Mexican. If they all had to go through the process of entering the country lawfully and striving for legal status, most of them would not do it. And with things like amnesty they have been rewarded for illegal entry. If you reward people for breaking the law, you sure aren't going to get respect for the law. Something wrong with that thinking. What is wrong with being born into a country and then working there to improve things. For what fate is it that causes us to be born in one country and not in another? It looks as though many Mexicans feel they were born in the wrong place and need to get up here to the right place.
I think that if you made up your mind this was your home since you were born there and you had to make the most of it, you might work harder to better the country like all the other people are doing, those who don't come north. You might control the size of your family better to fit the living you could make for them.
Mexicans who believe they will be able to live better if they come north as illegals are going to come if that proves to be so. That is human nature, so in a sense the American dream could be said to have robbed Mexico of some of her most enterprising people who left it because they saw it as easier to make a living up north.
Discouraging immigration is going to put Mexico in a bind. Putting any kind of dent in illegal drug trafficking is going to work hardship. So there will continue to be a great struggle for the people who have made up the illegals, both here and if restrained, in Mexico.

Tending my grandson Ethan and walking in the desert

My grandsons Ethan and Jamal in the last photo I took of them. I was so concerned about my daughter taking this big test I completely forgot to take my camera. She was to be gone all day, so she came and picked me up Sunday afternoon. After a lovely dinner at the Olive Garden where we met her husband Chad and my grandsons, Jamal and Ethan, we stopped off to their home at the edge of the desert north of town. She thought it might be relaxing to go to the club and dance for an hour or so, so she got her dancing shoes and off we went. What a lot of slim dancers, especially the ladies who may have been dancing the west coast swing for years. My daughter Ronda was as lovely and graceful as any of them. She had recently taken off a few pounds in preparation for the July convention held here in Phoenix and looked very slim and trim! She danced with one dancer after another and introduced me to many of them. I didn't dance but really enjoyed myself!
The next morning, both her husband Chad who is a very busy general manager for a company, and she took off early, as well as my grandson Jamal who works at Walmart's. Ethan and I got up and had a leisurely breakfast. Ethan had to stick around and give a tow truck driver the key as he came to pick up his dad's company car.
Ethan is ten, and I swear this summer he has grown five inches, since I took the photo. He is a tall skinny drink of water. I call this the slim family. His dad Chad is also a slim trim man, and Ethan is showing signs he will tower over him just as my grandson Jamal does whose shoulders have broadened. He has a much bigger frame than Chad. He is slim, too, and working hard at Walmart's to make money for his second year in college. Ronda says he is determined he is not going to get any student loans! He will earn money as he has a scholarship on his grades that will last as long as his grades are up. Wow! That kind of attitude is impressive.
After the tow truck driver picked up the car, Ethan asked me if wanted to take a w-a-l-k. He said he had to spell it or Bailey the dog would go bananas. He recognizes that word. I wouldn't be surprised if he could soon spell it. Although it was still very hot, it is always hot in Phoenix in the summer, I said okay as it was breezy and overcast. I thought I might be able to survive a walk.
Bailey is a very active dog on a walk. He wants to sniff every bush. Some of the houses had fake dog sculptures sitting out in front to scare thieves off I guess. Bailey would indicate he recognized these figures as dogs, but what the heck, they did not move, so he did not bark. He is supposed to be well trained enough not to bark on a walk. A real huge dog from the sounds of it took him by surprise as we went by the fence and startled Bailey into a few furious barks, but his master Ethan soon had him quiet again.
Ethan asked me if I could make it a little further. I said yes, so we walked to the edge of the desert and sat in an arbor there for a few minutes so I could catch my breath. Bailey loves the real desert. If he sees a little animal there he goes crazy as he is trained to go after such in his genes. But when we got back to the house, I knew I had walked to the end of my capacity in this searing heat.
After lunch I found a dvd someone had sent Ronda of the dance convention where she had advanced to finals in the Jack and Jill number. That is when the male dancers draw the name of their female partners out of a hat. I saw her dancing several times but could not find the finals. I decided I had better show Ethan the video I made of how the ladies of the west worked so hard. I had promised to tell him stories about the old days, and I did not want to fail at my job. Ha.
When Ronda came she showed me her dance in the finals. She was very graceful and skilled as usual, and she tried to analyze why she did not place in the finals. I could not see a lot of difference between the dancers who were all experienced west coast swing dancers. I thought the ones who placed either danced with a little more vigor and energy or their male partners did. That was the only difference. Ronda can dance all night, but her style might not yet include enough all out go get 'em vigor. Remember Benjy who won the So You Think You Can Dance one year? He is a west coast swing dancer and he has electric energy to the max, and so does his sister Lacey. They came make me tired just watching them dance together.
But as Ronda said this kind of dancing sure is good exercise to keep trim. I never saw so many good figures in one place.
Ronda's test was connected to her nursing. She hopes to find a good job more closely related to some of her interests, one of which is breast feeding. So she talked about some of what she had been studying as we traveled to and fro. Dancing is more her avocation or hobby. She went to college a second time to secure a nursing degree. She says the test was as hard as she expected but she thinks she passed it but will not know until October. She has always been good at passing tests, so I am hoping for the best.
I brought home some spaghetti and meatballs for Doc. He is always wanting spaghetti, so I brought him the best from the Olive Garden.
I was exhausted last night, so had to rest up. Now I am ready to go again. I hope I can get down in that pool today!
I happened to take a full mirror length look at myself out to Ronda and screamed to myself, "Oh, I need to lose weight." But I am feeling good and hope to start dropping a few ounces each week, slow but sure. I am fully recovered now I feel from being on my vegan diet too long. Too strict! It was dangerous. But I feel the discipline was good for me so there were some pluses from doing it 3 years.
I really enjoyed my grandson Ethan. Next time I swear I will remember my camera! Ronda lives 40 miles north through heavy traffic which is why I don't get to see them often. But what a beautiful location. And great schools for the kids.

"The Unsung Women who Built the West" reading a poem by my sisters, Ann and Linda

Doc and I had to make this video twice of me reading this poem out of "the Women" written by my sisters, Ann K. Reynolds and Linda King. The first time my face was too dark. I couldn't stand that, so I braved the old boy in his den (Doc) and caused him to have to waste another hour or two getting it better. I like this version and I hope my sisters do too, who have always done a very vigorous and wonderful rendition of their poem about those hard working women in my hometown of Boulder, Utah, and a lot of other towns in the west. We were raised doing all the work described in this poem since Boulder never got modern conveniences like electricity until the mid 1940's! I vowed I would never bottle again after I left Boulder and I never have! There's a reason why I developed chronic fatigue, but I am so tough I am still alive at 79 despite gittin' so tard.

More birthday presents, "the Women"!

I was very pleased to receive the book pictured above in the mail yesterday along with a cookbook with some beautiful paintings in it by an artist who lives in Boulder. I am not quite sure who gave me "the Women", I think my sister Margie, have to get that straightened out later, but it is a great gift that I thoroughly enjoyed. I think I enjoyed my niece Cheryl's poem about her great grandmother Black the most, as I thought it was a wonderfully imagined poem about a pioneer woman who tragically lost a number of her sons while they were still children. Here is an excerpt:

"I felt so bad when I had to call her back home (daughter Lasca)
before she even started her 2nd semester
but the boys were so sick and everyone
who could have helped had their own troubles or were too scared
they'd get sick too. I didn't hardly sleep a wink for six weeks.
I was watching little Alton so hard that Orrin slipped away
before it even registered.
Leone went next, just five days later. Alton seemed so much sicker
than either of the older boys, it shocked me when Orrin and Leone were gone
not even a week apart.
After we buried the boys, Alton just didn't get better.
We finally took him to Richfield.
I thought he was gone more than once. The doctor decided
to try draining his lung taking two ribs in the process.
I kept thinking I was getting sick. But I fought until I finally realized
I was pregnant."

There you have got just how bad it could get in the 'old days' with no antibiotics and doctors and hospitals just not available. Dora Black goes on to lose still another young son to appendicitis. The doctor decided to try to operate on the kitchen table, but it was too late, the appendix had burst and he did not survive. Camille, another niece, also wrote a very sad song about the life of Dora Black. It was reported that at the festival both the poem and song as performed by Cheryl and Camille had everyone present in tears. I can see why as I thought they were both very affecting.
Camille and Cheryl also wrote a song included here about my sister LaRae, Cheryl's mother, which I thought was another wonderful creation called "Mama's Gonna Tie Dye". It brought back memories of my sister LaRae with her long hair flowing, dressed like a hippy, going to the park to a big hippy gathering in some tie dyed outfit. It was very poignant as she left us while she was still that beautiful woman, the mama that now only tie dyes in our dreams.
I am used to my sisters writing colorful poems and all four of them, Margie, LaRae, Ann, and Linda were represented with interesting pieces. I also wrote a prose piece about my Grandma King. They have indicated that they were not able to print all the submissions that came in, in fact, they believe they will have enough soon for a second edition. I am all for it. If it is anywhere near as interesting as this one it will be a welcome addition to the folklore we have already gathered about this picturesque community which was without modern amenities like electricity and a town water system for an unbelievably long time.


Connie's graphics illustrate the old days very well. Every woman had to have a sewing machine, Singer, preferably, every woman had to become an expert gardener, and many helped their husbands on a horse as did their daughters when no sons were available! My sisters and I certainly weren't the only cow girls around. They date way back. Two ladies even had the mail contract one year on horseback!

My real birthday and catching up on the latest

Doc took the header photo for my birthday. He seems to have gotten worn out celebrating my birthday. He is still talking about a wonderful dessert but don't know if he has the oomph to go get it or not. I went up on FB and was surprised that everyone knew about my birthday up there, so that was nice. Connie made two beautiful greetings for it (one pictured here--thanks, Connie). My daughter Ronda remembered even though she is very busy studying for a big test. Dante's mom Angelina remembered. And other FB friends were on the ball.
I went on the family site and was greeted there with birthday wishes by my sister Ann who is on her way over to Boulder with members of her family to work on their mountain cabin. Now that my son Raymond is singing for his supper, I told them to ask him to sing a song and give him some supper! Gee, if I sang for my supper I might get rocks thrown at me! Most people would starve to death, so I am surprised he is still alive. But he called me up yesterday and we had a lot of great laughs, until I was convinced he was going to be okay. I guess that combined with him saying he was going to put on a play out in the wilds on Thompson's ledge caused me to get a little more nervous than usual. He has always made me nervous, learning to do double backs and such. Riding bulls in the 4th of July rodoes. He likes to live on the edge. Will somebody come to his play out in the wilds on Thompson's ledge? Would you? But he is probably going to have more fun doing it there than in a real theater in Los Angeles. It will be a first time experiment and then he can write about it.
But I just got through reading the story of a guy from Brazil who was determined to be a world famous writer. His name is Paul Coelho, and his parents didn't think he had a chance. His mother told him only one writer in all of Brazil made a living as a writer, so why did he think he could? In fact to try to knock some sense into him they even had him locked up not once but twice, and the last time even signed for electric shock therapy totally against his will! Why is it that people think young would be writers are crazy to want to be writers and need a good shock or two to bring them back to their senses? Talk about controlling parents.
But it could not help but remind me of my own experiences, so I could hardly wait to read the rest of the story. This guy also reminded me of Raymond in many ways. He started in theater, wrote lyrics for a singer and got semi-famous that way, but eventually guess what he wouldn't give up and eventually became one of the most famous and published writers in the world. The Alchemist is one of his most published books. I am going to look for it. So the lesson is don't ever give up. I know my son Raymond is a good writer and one of these days he will be world famous, somehow. He just does interesting stuff.
My son Dan is a little less flamboyant but he is a good writer, too. He is writing fantasy novels and I don't know what all. And I have to announce that now I will be writing the rest of my memoirs off line as putting them in my blog was distracting me too much and making me too nervous. I wrote until I was the age of 11 and now you will have to read the book off line once I get it done to see what else happened. So all the writers in the family may become famous, who knows. But not quite yet. We have things to do and places to go before that happens.

The pool has turned blue! I will swim today no matter what!

Finally after days of waiting the pool is open, so in a few I will be wending my way down there with my noodles and going in. I am so happy.
I just went down and ate more ribs for lunch and decided to put off cooking my sirloin one more day. I will cook the corn on the cob this evening. I have also been on the phone all morning to various relatives as I read Raymond's latest blog on Cowboys and Bohemians and got alarmed to think he might be too broke to eat. So I rushed out and sent him some money. What are mothers for? Anyway, who wouldn't send their son some money if they thought he was too broke to eat, if they had it, and I had it. Raymond just got through helping do the most successful Boulder Heritage Festival they have done yet but it does not pay him very much. I think all the cousins should allot some payment to themselves if they are doing a lot of work on it. They should compensate themselves some way.
But Raymond just called and said he did not mean to cause such reactions. He was just trying to write an honest blog which I appreciate. I think there are quite a lot of parents in these tough economic times who are helping out their kids who have fallen on hard times one way or another. We all have to give helping hands if we can in those times. Raymond doesn't have any kids, so he has only himself and his dog to worry about!
Anyway I am done worrying for a little while and am going to go in the pool and just have a relaxing good time!

My pre birthday party with long lost Dick

Doc is a guy who can't wait for birthdays. He starts celebrating your birthday way ahead of time. Right now his fridge is full of food he got up at 6am this morning to go to the store to purchase for my pre party, which includes barbecued ribs, cole slaw, potato salad, and corn on the cob! Does that sound like like a celebration or what? He also lugged home a flower in his back pack which you will soon see in the video he set up to film the presentation. And my birthday won't even be here for 2 more days!
He has been talking to me about cheese cake which I think will be the dessert he intends to purchase tomorrow. I did not even tell him that I had already purchased sirloin steak at the Farmer's Market to roast with potatoes, onions and carrots for my own birthday celebration. I didn't want to spoil his surprise party. It's either feast or famine around here. I did not see his feast coming as he had just got through making a big pot of what he calls glop made out of poor people's food he freezes and subsists on most of the time. He has frozen all that to make way for the feast! So now we have a feast already to go in my fridge and one in his! Boy, I am going to have to do some juggling to make sure none of this food goes to waste.
I think I can wait to start roasting mine until tomorrow. Yes, that's what I will do, and freeze part of it if need be.
Oh, I got the best salad yesterday to the Farmer's Market store made out of cauliflower, raisins, and I think it was wheat with a yummy dressing, just enough to flavor it. They try the most interesting combination of vegetables and grains over there, quinoa, couscous, grains you might not ever think to use in a salad.
You might get a kick out of Doc's jokes in this video we also made this morning for my pre party! This guy loves birthdays!