Forecast for Tuesday, 03-01-11

The Salamander is popular with the
Ducky Crowd.

Good Goddess, did anyone see where February went? We need to get it back. I am so not ready for my birthday Thursday. I can't be 60! It can't have happened. Those sneaky years have crawled around and whacked me!
Remember, Saturday is Mineral and Crystal Day at the Salamander and there is a rumor that the next week is Pendulum Saturday and as a bonus for buying a pendulum there will be free classes...You need to stay tuned because all sorts of stuff is happening at the Cosmic Salamander.

Today's Tarot Card is the Seven of Cups reversed. Your choices in love have narrowed down to one without your permission. The mystery is gone and reality has set in for the long haul.

Talk of limitations for the next couple of days is aggravating as you have an idea whose time has come and you are breaking away from the pack. Those who are stuck in the past are doomed to just keep repeating it.

Well, I am glad this weekend finally put one rumor to bed forever. A quarter of a million people turned out to protest the assault on workers' and women's rights and except for a very few newspapers, nary a peep was uttered. Instead the whole thing was covered up with the really awful Oscars or whatever they were. Did you really think I watched? Anyway, we can now definitively state there is no LIBERAL MEDIA. It doesn't exist. The GOP/Tea Party control the media just like we liberals have been telling you all along. Gee, I wonder what else we are right about? You are about to find out, the hard way.

Today we bit the bullet and filled Vanwitch up at Costco. They really do have the cheapest gas. It will have to last us a month or two, so needless to say, we aren't going far from home. I got some needed supplies like Greek Yogurt and Strawberries. I forwent the new J.D. Robb book I have been drooling and waiting on for it seems like ever. Money is too tight to spend on a book right now. With that, I shall settle in for the night. Tomorrow is a big gardening day at the Salamander and I guess I ought to tell you will be closed tomorrow until evening. They sent the papers for us to get the retirement and they have to be notarized and thus, we have to go down to the new bank and get all of that done. I really, really am starting to hate these people.

Forecast for Monday, 02/28/11

The Hard Life of the Cats while we humans clean and rearrange/

Ah Monday morning....this is why I am closed on Mondays. I spent too many years working and really hating Mondays, so now I just avoid their existence.

Today's Tarot Card is the Six of Cups. Someone will tell you how much they love and admire you today, but make certain this coming from a position of equality and not control.

For once this is an aspect free day until late tonight when it is party time and a pleasant surprise is revealed by an elder. The Moon goes void of course at 8:03 PM EST so do not expect to get much done tonight or the pleasant surprise to be acted upon any time soon.

Tomorrow: decadence. Stay tuned.

Saturday, March 5th is mineral appreciation day at the Salamander. We will bringing out all the crystals and minerals, weather permitting, (otherwise we will be holding it inside) and you can ask questions get advice, charge your minerals and crystals around some really big ones and even learn a simple bowl technique for keeping your stones charged and it makes a nice center piece for your table! It is going to be a fun day! we are bringing large numbers of minerals out of storage and the energy in the shop is rising exponentially.

Sunday has proven to be a weird day. I started off with a woman standing in the middle shop looking a little dazed asking me if I had anything for sale to cut grass with and I mean the lawn type. Okay, now you have to admit for a cute little witchy shop that is strange. Turns out one of my neighbors put their yard sale sign at the telephone pole without an arrow pointing down the street. Thus, we got his customers all day.

The energy in the shop has changed so much after yesterday's rearranging and cleaning it is amazing. Even the cats are sleeping better if that is actually possible. On the other hand, neither George nor I have a really working back and I am having massive dust allergy attacks. You have to remember,. I have been away from the shop for almost a year recovering from cancer surgery and George is not a duster.
I just cleaned the big glass display case last month and I am scrubbing it again. I will have more scrubbing tomorrow. I am warning the cats that if they are going to "sling snot" they need to find some tissue paper. Then there are the little kitty prints all over the top! The Oriental case is not only cleaned but open for business however, someone already got most of the pewter cats. The dragons and wizards are still left. The crystal balls are in that case and I have one clear and one lavendar left. After a bit more cleaning I am smudging the shop. Some times I pick something up that those theives handled and get a negative jolt and have to wash it real fast and my hands. They may think it is funny, but since I instinctively reflect that jolt back to sender, they may be reaping Karma from that little escapade for really, really long time. You should never mess with religious, metaphysical or in particular, magickal objects.
All things in life are about balance, diet, emotions and even politics. What people did not seem to realise in the past election is that the checks and balances to prevent the extreme right wing from pushing their agenda on everyone had been removed piece by piece. They started by winning minor elections that no one pays attention to, until they had filled the foundation of the government with their puppets. Under the cover of secrecy, every minor elected official fired, retired or transfered anyone in their departmental area that was not in their "church" or social group promoting the extreme agenda until there was almost no one left in the government offices that was doing the job. They were all prosletizing the new regime.
Then when they ran three candidates knowing that close to 2/3 of the people would split their vote between the moderates, they won the elections without a majority. Now, they hold the complete majority in most states and Washington and there is no way to stop them. A petition to recall Florida's governor is in the works and he hasn't been in office over a month. It will do nothing because the Florida Legislature is packed with extremists. But, the results are even more devastating than everyone losing their benefits and jobs. Excellent bills that were up for vote are now below the back burner while this extremist agenda is pushed through and won't even be considered (we are talking things like child seat laws) because they were proposed by moderates. Only the Tea Party/GOP is allow to speak. It is the same in Washington.
I kept saying a vote for Chris is a vote for Marco Rubio but no one would listen. Well, Rubio won and is lock stepping to the Fascist Agenda in Washington as women, children and the elderly suffer and the middle class pays for the rich folk to have their tax breaks. Now, everyone wants to protest. It's too late. You elected them. They control the recall process. They control the courts right up to and including the Supreme Court. They control the grass roots. Gee, I guess being asked if you have found Jesus when you try to get a business license in Broward isn't quite so funny any more and I am not so sensitive. Next time it takes you forever to get a license or the answer to a question in a local government office you might ask if you have the wrong religious symbol on or are maybe a little too dark complected or your voters' ID says Democrat. Maybe, if there was going to be next time, you might listen.....

Forecast For Sunday, 02/27/11

The Skulls!

We really made progress on the shop today. George vacuumed the floors and I dusted and dusted and dusted. I think one of the dust bunnies nipped my leg. Things are progressing, slowly but surely. Tomorrow I do more rearrangement and display, the never ending tasks of retail. Fortunately, I have one more pouch of brownies to make for fuel.

Today's Tarot Card is the Two of  Wands. The grass may looker greener on the other side of the fence but you have everything you need in your hand.

Dreams of things changing may actually have elders and authorities awakening from the that nightmare and trying to figure out how to squeeze us a bit more. By morning, you are feeling in control and your power is seeping back to you. You will be talking about it by mid morning. The warning is that the hammer may hit late tonight trying to use legal means to keep people "in order". Somehow, I do not think any one is putting this genie back in the bottle.

My birthday weeks are the worst weeks of my life. That is simply a statement but this year, I went on the offensive and it was hysterical. After switching telephone companies because I am not contributing to ATT contributing to the Tea Party and their candidates, I got a bill from them. Now, if I am paying in advance for service, I am a little fuzzy on how I can owe when I had just paid so I requested a full statement. I didn't hear anything until today when, and it is only 30 days, I got a call from their collection agency, who will probably never call me again.
Goddess, I lit into that guy and suggested he drop a note ex-president Bush because it was him and his GOP/Tea Party cronies that passed the law preventing you from removing any money from your retirement fund for 30 days....get ready because this is the exact reasoning....just in case you change your mind and then allows the bank to hold your money for at least another 60 days while they, using an abacus with their shoes off, to try to figure out exactly how much money is in your account before they chisel that check out of granite and mail it via pony express and why, so they can borrow against YOUR money and make INTEREST off of it just in case  that 2 billion dollar yearly bonus doesn't pay their food bill for the month.
I started to feel bad after yelling at this guy and then I thought...you work for the *astards, take the message to them that THEY KILLED THE GOLDEN GOOSE. In over 20 years of having a cell phone with them, I have never been late on a bill, disputed anything or complained about anything. Now, they and their political cronies are trying to take what little bit everyone has left for what...a car wash and wax for their Rolls? I mean, what do you do with billions of dollars a year? I can't even conceive of spending that much money. What would I want and what would I do with it? Shiatsu, I am over the moon that BJ's got the navel oranges in last night I got a bag. It was under 10 bucks....
This pill pusher/ex heroine dealer they busted yesterday in the pill mill raids had a WAREHOUSE full of super expensive cars. Okay, now how many cars can you drive at once? I can see Jay Leno as a collector, but this uneducated Jackass just  took them out once in a while to annoy his  neighbors running up and down the street. We have two vans, and there is always the chance one will break down and we need the other one to tow it home. They are both working vans because we work for a living. Neither one of them is impressing anyone. I just need to get from here to there and I don't care what you think of my broom. Face it, you live and then you die. No one is going to be at your funeral saying, "Nice ride." They are going to be commenting on your character of lack there of....
Folks, when people are complimenting your ride, your dress, your house...they are not complimenting you. I would much rather have someone say I am nice person than I drive a nice car.

Forecast for Saturday, 02/26/11

Pyrite Egg in little cup.

I will admit to being a little depressed today. Since the Bush era cute little games with all retirement funds, we are really short of funds. Although I pay 1,060.00 per month for health insurance and I had to cancel all my appointments up to May because since I am still in deductible, I cannot afford the price of the doctor's visit. So here I sit with my sinuses pounding, three suspicious spots on my face, my feet cramping so bad I can't pry my toes apart and the blood test due for my thyroid condition scraping together the 1,000 dollars for insurance payments and I can't afford to go to the doctor. Oh, and I forgot...we don't need insurance reform. Thank you GOP and Tea party. Now I will crawl over into the corner and die since that is your health plan.

Today's Tarot Card is the High Priestess. The High Priestess holds the Torah in her hands. She symbolizes the practical application of spirituality, law tempered by spirituality: the place between light and dark, good and evil, known and unknown. To quote a famous title, this card is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The Moon is void of course from 1:08 PM to 2:32 PM EST when she enters Capricorn and elders and authorities reassert their power over us. The void of course begins with a square to Uranus in Pisces which causes emotions to run high. Things are not peaceful today.

The noon hour starts very psychic and even some what romantic. Then emotions run wild and because there are Sag aspects, legal or police action is very possible and when the square to Uranus occurs in Pisces, violence is possible. So, be careful out there.

By late afternoon, teachers tell their stories and it fires action in the evening. Be wary, authorities and elders will play on emotions to get their way and the spin doctors are out in force.

Today, all over the country there will be protests in state capitals by middle class Americans who want their rights back. They forget they gave them away under the guise of protection from one insane Arab and balancing a budget without asking exactly how. It is a nice gesture but totally ineffectual. The people they elected live in their own little world with an imagined mandate from some "god" and the "majority" even though very few of them actually won their office with an actual majority. (That has to be 51% of the vote, not 34% split between two other candidates.) They are threatening to shut the government and the school systems down. Fire and police will be next. I say: LET THEM DO IT. It is time the people who voted for them got exactly what they voted for and the rest of us will barricade ourselves in our homes and wait for the dust to settle.
OH and NASCAR will have to shut down without emergency services. I am pretty sure when that happens, they will vote them out of office and while we are talking about NASCAR, would someone give me on rational explanation for why the PENTAGON is funding them when they are one HUGE PROFIT MAKING MACHINE? Heck, even if they were a charity, why is the PENTAGON funding them?
Why are my tax dollars building the buildings for huge corporations that employee people who make over a million bucks a year and who I have to buy an expensive ticket to see? I am talking about all these sports arenas. Why are my friends in Orlando paying through the nose in property taxes while two of the biggest profit machines in the state pay little or nothing and their profits go out of my state. I am talking about Universal Studios and Disney World.
How did today's headlines happen? Read the last paragraph. Businesses waltz into cities, promise a few jobs and walk out with a free ticket, tax free and loads of building exemptions. So why are you so shocked the GOP and Tea Party are now holding the working class hostage? They have just moved up from their corporate offices to political offices. Business as usual. What's your problem?

The good news is: I will be making the coffee tomorrow. George makes Navajo coffee even though I am the one with Native American genes. I make the strong stuff! It'll grow hair or cause it to fall out. That depends on the day and hour. I am probably doing the snacks, too, so you are safe. I wish the mango tree was finished blooming so I could have a bonfire out back but with my insurance problems, I don't dare step out near it. A massive allergy attack would wreck havoc on my budget.

We have one pyrite egg for sale for $45.00. It is beautiful. If nothing else, you have to see it. It is the ultimate money spell focus as with its imperfections it looks like the gold chucks are falling out of it! The mini skulls are out and priced. My spelled jewelry is also in the display case for serious practitioners who are really doing ritual work.

Someone asked if I just use salt to cast a circle. I often add herbs to the salt and I have been known to add lodestone to the salt and copper filings. It all depends on what I am planning to do. If I feel I need protection, I pull out all the stops and go with Mars and Pluto correspondences. If I am scrying, I use light protection and heavy magnetic correspondences. But the question everyone keeps forgetting to ask is what you do with the salt, water, incense leavings and what have you when finished. Since some of this stuff is toxic you need a plan. Outside, a salt circle will quickly kill all plant life. Sulfur is toxic to all life forms as are some herbs. That is why I like to work on a concrete slab...it is essentially just hardened sand...sweep everything up afterwards and either put it into a firepit or a special well designed to destroy all psychic vibrations.

Forecast for Friday, 02/25/11

We have a couple of these bowls left.

We are working hard at being ready for the big sale and rally on Saturday. George is baking brownies as I type. Now whether any of that batch will make it to Saturday is really, really doubtful knowing George's sweet tooth.....But don't fear, I have two more batches in the box. You do like cinnamon bread, don't you? Remember, 10% off all products and all readings are $35.00. Cash, check or credit card.

Today's Tarot Card is the ooooh, there are two of them: the Magician reversed and the Knight of Cups. You can't make love happen. It has to arrive on its own and even then, there may be nothing you can do about it.

For a couple of days, everyone wants to tell you how they feel whether you want to know or not. Talk of change dominates the conversation with elders and authorities but even though change is in the air but don't expect the change to be good news about money.
 Your main work today will be overcoming limitations.

Well, it's back to work for me. New stock from quite a while back begs to be priced and shelved for Saturday. Furniture must be moved. The cats need petting.

It just gets worse.

This is from a group I belong to the Pen:

"Could it possibly get any worse? It just recently came to light that


so-called "Citizens United", nothing more than a corporate sponsored

astroturf lobbying organization, the very same group he ruled in

favor of to decimate our campaign finance laws last year, was the

driving force in paying for and running ads to promote the

confirmation of Thomas himself to the Supreme Court.



The standard for a justice to step aside from hearing a particular

case is supposed to be whether there might be an "appearance of

impartiality". Yet here we have a member of the Supreme Court handing

decisions to the people who were instrumental in putting him on the

court in the first place. It is simply unacceptable to have a someone

sitting on the Supreme Court with such patent contempt for simple

fairness.



Impeach Thomas Action Page:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1076.php



In fact, all the so-called justices who voted in favor of Citizens

United should be impeached. Scalia has shown similar contempt for any

suggestion he should recuse himself from cases where he was clearly

biased in favor of one side, always the corporate one. And we know

now that Roberts and Alito lied through their teeth at their

confirmation hearings about their committed reactionary agenda.



So help us get that word out there by getting one of the "Impeach The

Supreme Court 5" bumper stickers. There is no charge whatsoever, not

even shipping, if you have not requested a bumper sticker already.

And here is the page where you can do that. Of course, if you can

make a donation of any amount, this is what makes it possible for us

to send free bumper stickers to anyone who cannot make a donation

right now.



Impeach Supreme Court bumper stickers:

http://www.peaceteam.net/bumper_stickers.php



And if you are a super activist, please consider picking up a bulk

pack of 25 of these for a very modest cost, to hand out to your

friends and neighbors, and be a real community organizer.



Impeach Supreme Court bulk packs:

http://www.peaceteam.net/bumper_stickers_bulk.php



And here is the Facebook link for the Impeach Thomas action page

further above.



[Facebook] Action Page:

http://apps.facebook.com/fb_voices/action.php?qnum=pnum1076



And this is the Twitter reply for this same action



@cxs #p1076



Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed

to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.

Forecast for Thursday, 02/24/11

It has been a busy day. I worked outside until my sinuses said no more and my head was pounding. One tomato is almost ready, the second bush has one baby on it and the sweet 100 is growing like a weed. I wish I was as lucky with lettuce. Then I would have a salad.
I have spent the day pricing skulls (nope not beads), massage points, ovals and points. Since I still live in the manual world, it is slow going. I really hate the glue that one supplier uses to slap the made in stickers on with. I cannot get it off. The price tags, however, flutter off like confetti. Ah the joys of being in retail!

Today's Tarot Card is the Lovers reversed. I think you can forget about romance.

The third quarter moon starts at 6:26 PM EST in 6SAG00. The Moon is void of course from 6:14 AM to 7:46 AM EST. This might be a good day to be a little late or a lot early getting to work.
The Moon enters Sagittarius at 7:46 AM EST and not only do things lighten a bit but justice is in sight. Whether it gets here or not doesn't happen until Pisces.
For the next week, the subject will be teachers and their pain and believe me, they have WAAAAYYY more sympathizers than detractors.
An early morning deceit finally frees you from an emotional bond and you can move on to a new level. And then it goes down hill with squares galore! Teachers are upset and arguments ensue that are way too emotional to make sense. Communications are long winded and whiny. You are not feeling yourself and very put upon and finally after the emotional dust settles, good money news arrives. If you are due a settlement, this could well be the day it arrives.

Unlike many psychics, I do delve psychically into politics or fame. I believe people are due their privacy and if you don't ask for reading, you don't get one. Only when my world is at stake do I delve into things and people that do not directly ask me and I hate to say it, but after yesterday, my world was at stake.

When we went to withdraw the retirement and place the funds into another investment strategy, we were politely told we could expect a check MAY 1st and this was all because the government makes them wait 30 days to release the money and they need time to figure the latest amount (250 milliseconds..what they want me to think they are using an abacus?) . Well, I really can count and May 1st is over TWO months away, so this is nothing more than a delaying technique so they can make money off our money and we can't use it. Welcome to another day where the middle class person gets screwed by the billionaire bankers.

So, being pretty hot under the collar, I asked a question of my guide I never thought I would: "How do we solve this problem in this country because these jackasses just messed with this Scotsman's MONEY?" I didn't really expect an answer and my thoughts were leaning more to shooting them all and letting some god(dess) sort them out (I was leaning toward Kali) when the answer came: "STARVE THE BEAST."
Okay that lead to some more questions as I would have considered voting them out of office and the answer to that was: "Who is running things?"

Well, I was pretty sure it isn't the politicians in Washington. They have proven to be nothing from the city level up but the paid errand 'boys' for the corporate sponsors that paid for their campaigns. Wow, that was certainly proven in Wisconsin today, wasn't it? Who runs the corporations? Betcha didn't ask that one? Well, it is not the people who own them. The life and death of the corporations is determined by two entities and you aren't one of them: Wall Street and the Banks. The issue in the corporate world is whether you can get credit and keep your stock prices up and you really have no control over either. So, starve the beast because no matter how you may have decided to overthrow the government, it is useless...both your method and the government. You can remove the entire government and NOTHING WILL CHANGE. What these real fart fellows in the GOP and Tea Party do not realise is they are expendable and easily replaced. The Corporate Boards of Director are routinely lied to as are the investors and stock holders, reread the Rolling Stone article. So, how do you starve the beast?

Let's try a simple approach, buy local. I know you have heard that but you have no idea how powerful it is and how much it scares the crap out of these people. When you buy local, your money stays in your community. Use a local bank instead of the big guys like say Bank of America. I think their president has enough of our tax dollars and should be in jail. Use locally owned restaurants that buy locally. Cut up your credit cards because every payment and charge you make just feeds the beast. I know I love my ATM card but it is going into the shredder. Why, because if my money is in my wallet my bank (which I can't change until May 1st) can't make money off of it, i.e. starve the beast. Trade with your friends and neighbors for what you need. There are great internet trading sites where people post items they no longer need. Use small phone companies like CREDO where part of their profits will be going to social causes. Start a garden and bring big Agro to their knees. Do you have any idea how much of your tax dollars go to subsidize that beast instead of the small farmer who needs it? Learn how to cook. Use propane from local sources and distributers instead of the big W. Make things. Repair things. Stop buying mindlessly. Barter because the less money floating around the skinnier the beast is going to get.

The answer is not in the streets but in your wallet. Their soul currency is money and that is where you hit them. Pass it on.

Forecast for Wednesday, 02/23/11

After all the financial articles that came out today, all I can say is I am sick to my stomach.
All the Tea Party/GOP voters should be so proud of the people they voted for as they happily claim a mandate from the people to strip the people of all their rights. They should be particularly proud of giving those huge tax cuts to the very people who orchestrated the financial meltdown so they can enjoy their tens of billion dollars in  bonuses (yes, you read that number right)  with not even a day of community service for their crimes. Of course, with the unemployed on the way to being forced to do community service to get their meager checks in Florida, I guess the competition is too stiff for those jobs picking up garbage on the highway.
Ah and we Democrats have much to be proud of as the very people who made the tens of billions and more off this financial crises, created it and collected our tax dollars to fix it (or their private jet) are doing their community service by being hired into the top levels of the government so they can watch their colleagues do more of the same thing. Yup, you should always hire the FOX to watch the hen house.
Yes sirree, this is one proud day for America and brother, was my forecast on the mark yesterday. Let's see what today brings....

Today's Tarot Card is the Knight of Swords, reversed. There is no knight in shining armor coming to the rescue. In fact, there is very little movement at all today.

The only aspect today occurs in the evening bringing the desire for some pleasant social interactions.
BUT wait until tomorrow because the heavens will be really, REALLY active!

In case you missed it, Saturday is Take Back America Day and since I am no where near the capital of Florida, we are offering a protest with free coffee, reduced to $35.00 readings and 10% off all products on Saturday. If I had some money, I would offer a cheese platter to show solidarity with Wisconsin! Maybe we can get George to bake some brownies..Brownies are universal....Come in and get your reading as it will keep me out of trouble and believe me, the way things are going, that is a really good idea.

Sick at my stomach

Want to balance the budget...let's get our money back from these jerks.
Don't anyone talk about dead beat home owners in default or I will pop you in the mouth. Better wait until I cool down. No one stood a chance against these people and they are out on the street, enjoying their billion dollar life style with brand new tax breaks while I have friends living out of their cars because of what they did.

HUGE GIANT SALE

In honor of "Take back the American Dream Day" Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, All readings are $35.00 and all products are 10% off at the Cosmic Salamander, open 2 - 9 PM.
Come visit us and have some Coffee because We Aren't the Tea Party.

Forecast for Tuesday, 02/22/11

It has been a day and a half. I fell off my bed wedge. This should be impossible because I wedge a body pillow next to it and if I fall off the other side, I hit the floor. Somehow I did it, twisted my whole body and woke up with my back thrown out so well the level of pain had me nauseous and close to vomiting. I did not get to the Doctor as there was no way I could drive. So, I fell back to sleep and when I woke a second time the pain was less but then the cramp from Hades hit my leg and I was certain the muscle was stripped off the bone. I have been holding on to the wall all day to get around. So much for my nice day off. George is trimming the cat's claw tree out front and if he finds it, I have a nice wand! I deserve a perk for all the pain and blood I have shed at that tree.

Today's Tarot Card is the Chariot. In a personal reading this always means the person is getting another car. In a general reading it mean advancement, movement and achieving balance through physical movement.

The Moon is void of course from 3:35 AM to 4:29 AM EST when she enters Scorpio. Let the games begin. Under this moon there is both deceit and excellent detective work ferreting out secrets.

Nightmares may actually be prophetic overnight. The overnight energies make it hard to stay asleep for any period of time. Those who have been wronged have a lesson to teach this morning and it would do you well to stop and listen. It will contribute to your success. Bad financial news in the middle of the afternoon leads to change born out of revelations about elders or authorities.
Mars enters Pisces at 8:06 PM EST where he is not happy. No matter how hard the war god tries to shake emotional attachments, they act like quicksand and the harder he fights, the quicker he sinks.
A couple of day aspect has those who have been wronged coming forward and finally telling their stories. You will shocked at how long some things have been going on......and on....and on.....

I'm enclosing a link to an article right here. Please read it. Keep in mind the 1tr he mentions is 0ne trillion dollars.

I looked at the House of Representative's Budget slashing and shuddered. First cuts were education and health care, all of which the middle class and poor depend on to survive. The rich can afford health insurance and private schools. The second area was law enforcement which again impacts the middle class and poor as the rich have their private security guards and systems. Actually, every cut affected the middle class and the poor leaving the rich nicely untouched enjoying their tax breaks and speculative investments at the expense of...oh do I actually have to type it out. Investments in what is called our infrastructure (roads, bridges and levees) is non-existent. The reason for that is a mobile population is hard to control. If you can't get out of town you are easy to round up and it's even easier to control the information you get. No one is coming in or out to contradict it.
Guess who didn't have any cuts? Yup, the Defense Department and we don't even know what they spend most of their money on. Earlier, the House voted to fund an air craft engine for an exorbient price that the military DIDN'T EVEN WANT IT. The Defense Department's budget is obviously nothing more than a payoff fund for the people who paid to elect the GOP and Tea party. And then, grabbing even more money in a different column and being held totally unaccountable is the new Shrub bribery plan called Homeland Security. It is these two agencies that are bankrupting us, not social services.
Stop and think...what do we really get from them? Once upon a time when I was a little girl, a man I never liked named Eisenhower, was elected president. He was a military leader elected on his pocket of ribbons and the first thing he warned the country and Congress about was not the great "Red Menance" but the military/industrial complex taking over the country and eventually bankrupting it. This is from a General and a member of the miltary and THE PRESIDENT. No one listened because his oponents were swearing the Russians were subverting our youth, knocking down our doors and poised to annilihate us at any moment. Gee, does that sound familiar? And so, the Pentagon grew and grew and of course since the Red Menance was listening to every whisper, became more secretive and its funding was thrown under a blanket so no one could find out what we were doing for our defense. Apparently, we were making about 2% of the population very, very RICH and since we were unable to even catch one little Arab my guess would be spending very little on actual working defense but then again, no one knows what they REALLY DO with the money.
Fast forward to today and remember, we are no longer spending that money in the USA. We buy our weapons, our planes, our supplies and our ammunition from OTHER COUNTRIES. Just about every penny of that Defense Budget goes overseas. We don't even spend it in this country. Why? Because countries do not exist. Yes, you heard me right. We are now a world of multinational corporations that control the resources and governments of the world at the expense of the people and the first order of business is to get rid of that pesky middle class who have ambitions to become more than they are and plunge them into poverty where your only ambition is to eat and have a dry place to sleep at night.
Friends, I have lived in that world and you DO NOT WANT TO GO THERE.
George, a Viet Nam veteran, is comforted by the sound of helicopters. I run for cover as they would be hunting me. My stomach knots every time I see a police chopper with lights on and I shrink into the shadows. I instinctively distrust all people in uniform for really good reason. I have stopped hitting the ground when a car backfires so I am making progress. I am used to the people I eat breakfast with being dead by dinner. I am used to sleeping with my hand on a weapon and not moving one inch when I sleep, very quietly. Now, do you want to live that way? Do you want to learn to wrap yourself in sheets so the bugs will stay out while you sleep? Do you want to empty your shoes in case something unpleasant decided to take up residence while you had them off? Do you want to learn to meet each person accessing their potential weaknesses in case you have to fight them off? That is the world I grew up in and the one you are creating. No educational system, so no one can read and write. Hiding in the shadows from authorities not because you have done anything wrong but because you are breathing their air and they want it back. Your new Itune is gunfire and explosions. Your latest ambition is making it through the night in one piece and eating something, anything, tomorrow, because today didn't work out so well. Three quarters of the world lives that way. You're next.

Forecast for Monday, 02/21/11

Iguana on the roof

Today is President's Day and we are safe or so Ben Franklin would have had us believe as Congress is not in session.

Today's Tarot Card is the Sun. Start the week on a positive note of success. This is your day to shine.

Mercury enters Pisces at 3:53 PM EST where he is not happy. Communications, if it is possible, become more emotionally charged with plenty of pleas for the good old days which have come and gone. Write a love note but remain realistic.
The morning starts with an acceptance of limitations but by lunch an elder or authority reminding you of what you already accepted will ruin a social event. Everyone knows things are bad. Constant reminders are rubbing salt into wounds, particularly if the guy reminding you is wearing a suit that costs more than your car.

Speaking of that, I have for years been trying to tell people that our local, state and federal governments have been robbing us blind and paying off their relatives and the people who bought the election for them. Every year our local taxes have increased and people have just thrown money at them. Parade the little kids out and everyone threw money at the school board. Well, the recommendation on the Broward School Board is back from the Grand Jury investigating them: throw them all out including the board structure and start over. Yes, they used nice 8 letter words but I will translate for you: grand theft, bribery and general incompetence is the verdict. Then even more has come out. Members of boards who meet monthly have been drawing salaries most of us would like when you divide it into the hourly wage AND getting full health benefits and pensions. Of course they want rid of Obamacare...it is cutting into their perks.  Of course they want to take the pensions away from the teachers, cops, firefighter and general worker bees. It is cutting into their pension fund and they are all collecting a doozy for often no more than one term of service. Wouldn't we all like those jobs????

By-the-way, I checked George's unemployment check and even though he was making 100,000.00 as an engineer, which is really low for an engineer, his weekly check is 250.00. So if you really thought you would have a 275.00 a week cushion and you are making under 175,000.00 a year, think again. Think about it a lot. As for jobs...he spends most of the time on the computer and not even a nibble, not even an interview. He is too qualified, too old and there simply are no technical jobs down here. Heck, it is getting to be a fist fight for changing sheets at the motel. I guess I will just have to run for office to support us. Can't you just see it: the old Druid in government??? That is every elected official's nightmare. You want a filibuster...buddy, I can talk about nothing for days on end.......please don't mind the runes on my desk and the doll I keep hitting with a hammer..Ooops, sorry Napoleon thought your leg was a scratching post....My first order of business: everyone gets a big cut in salary and benefits. Then we play slice and dice with every amendment added to any bill. Compromise...sure...I learned early the only compromise with someone who is out to destroy you is to let them help you choose your method of suicide and suicide never appealed to me.

Forecast for Sunday, 02/20/11

Something in this shop takes every ruler I get. I was just using the dreaded purple one, dreaded because you can't see the numbers on it, and it has disappeared. Tomorrow I go to the dollar store and stock up, again.
Last night George cut the water sprout off the cat's claw tree to be made into staffs. Every inch of this tree, including the leaves, is covered with really sharp, nasty spines. The staffs should be very protective of their owner. We will get two or three out of the cutting. Right now, it is drying and being readied for curing.
Running out of ways to be miserable last night, I coloured my hair. It was a good thing I decided to do it nude because I have never spilled so much hair colour in my life. I am still trying to wash it off me and the bathroom but my hair does look better. The good thing about really thin hair is I can get two uses out of one box if I measure carefully.
Now for a week of no rituals to energize and throw my body clock off kilter. I can't help but wonder if Monday is President's Day, why didn't we get any mail today?

Today's Tarot Card is the Eight of Pentacles: working hard and getting paid in kind, no more and no less.

The Moon is void of course from 2:18 AM to 4:01 AM EST when she enters Libra and nothing gets done for two days. Libra is more interested in appearance than substance so remember for the next two days to look beneath the surface.

Dreams are annoying and jumbled and you may not sleep well this night. By morning you are really miserable, nothing seems to match, you look awful and your mood matches but no one is learning from your example. By lunch you know finances are not improving, change hits a brick wall in the mid afternoon and then the brown sticky stuff really hits the rotary propeller.
For the next couple of days, Mercury aspects cause your intuition to kick into high gear and it sort of short circuits your brain and rational reasoning. That leaves you wide open to pretty little deceits. Now, in jumps Mars bringing out the cons and you will not know what to believe. Here is a hint. Your gut is right and everything you are seeing in media is wrong. Trust no one but yourself.

Last night I tried to show you how this new unemployment law in Florida is about to plunge us into a feudal state with two classes, the rich and the very poor workers. Now, it seems tens of thousands of people in Wisconsin have fallen to the budget bible banging rhetoric and totally missed the point of the protests which are over not the paying of money into pensions or even pay cuts, but the cute little amendments that limit the ability of the unions to bargain and not just the teachers and government worker's unions, but every union! There are even people who are union out there protesting the right of the teachers and government workers unions to bargain and they don't even know what they are doing waving their little cut the budget signs.

This has nothing to do with budget and everything to do with removing your right to work at a job of your choice.

Many years ago, I was unemployed and made the insane mistake of going to the unemployment agency. The very first job they sent me out on, I found myself in house, surrounded by men feeling a lot like a deer in the wolves' den when the man running place came running out, grabbed me and ushered me outside. He quickly told me he had told them NOT TO SEND WOMEN. This was halfway house for men with ...oh well, sexual deviants remanded by the courts to his program. I handed him my card to sign to show I had shown up and he asked what it was. The other women had just run and forged his signature. Under the new law, they are trying to pass, if this job met the salary requirements and this guy had been less than moral, I would have either had to take this job and probably wound up raped and killed or lost my unemployment benefits. Does that drive this home to you? Do you want to be shoveling out sewer lines or worse for 275.00 a week? If you are nice looking woman and some man is willing to meet the salary requirements, you have no choice but to take the job. Do you get it yet? You have no choice on where you will be enslaved and who you will be working for if they are willing to pay the price. This was never about budget or those GOP Tea Party nuts you elected would be cutting their 100,000.00 a year staff members and their own salaries. It is all about turning the USA into a sweat shop. Already there is legislation pending in other states to undo child labor laws!  They are tyring to unfund Planned Parenthood. Women are you totally stupid? You are about to be sold in slavery, your rights are being taken away and if you didn't like the glass ceiling...it is now stainless steel! Please wake up!
A dear Jewish friend of mine was commenting on some of her neighbors who were paying thousands of dollars at some GOP fund raising event to rub shoulders with the politicians. Oddly, I usually find myself needing a bath after getting a crowd of those guys. I loved what she said: "Janice, those are the people who would have sold my parents out for a first class ticket on the train." Her parents were survivors of the Nazi concentration camps in case the reference went over your head. Reread that statement carefully. First class or cattle car, everyone on the train went to the same place...Ladies...the SAME PLACE.

Forecast for Saturday, 02/19/12

I awoke feeling awful and it wasn't until afternoon I remember what I did. I went out back. I cannot go out back at the shop until the Mango tree finishes blooming. I am allergic to the pollen. Anyway, I am somewhat better.
Last night I cooked catfish for dinner and a chicken and a pork roast for this weekend. Weekends are busy at the Salamander, so having you dinner ready is a good idea. Now I am so sick I can't eat any of the great food I fixed. In my next life, no allergies will be permitted.
Boogaboo, who wants to called Orson because he looks like Orson Wells, decided to be king today. There is only one king and his name is Napoleon. So I told him that to be king you needed to have white on you somewhere. He claims he has stealth white. You can't see it but it is there. I told him he could be a prince and stake out a territory at the front window. Last I saw he had claimed the top of a scratching post tube.

Today's Tarot Card is the Four of Swords. Rest or sickness will follow. Although you are prepared, your enemies outnumber you.

For a week, teachers get recognition in a good way.
It is a very social day and morning but everything has to be just so-so. Late tonight the bickering starts so chill out. Things do not have to be perfect.

Well, the basic information of the revised unemployment package in Florida came out today and at first I could not believe what I was reading or WHY someone would do something like this. Not only are the number of weeks you can draw unemployment being cut by 6, but you HAVE to take any job that pays 80% of your previous salary. Now, what is to stop your previous employer who just gave you the finger from saving money by hiring you back at a 20% cut in pay, frequently. Each time you become unemployed, your new salary is cut by 20%. So if you get a job at the 80% thinking I can survive and get laid off a month later, you have to take the next job offered at 80% of that salary. It won't take too many jobs before you are below poverty level wages. Then part of the way through the unemployment compensation, the mandatory job pay you have to accept drops to anything paying the same amount you are getting in unemployment or around $275.00 a week. Well, George, it looks like engineers in the USA are now going to be making what they make in India, ooops, less than India...that's 14,300.00 a year not $15,000.00 in India. Gee I wonder who this bill benefits besides the idiots in the GOP and Tea Party that are willing shoot themselves in the foot...the big corporations?????

Not only that, but the high speed train, touted as great for our unemployment crisis, between Orlando and Tampa is on the chopping block even though the Feds were paying 90% of the bill for it. What does that do, you as?. Well, a lot of people live in the cheap areas outside Orlando and drive over to Tampa for better paying jobs than the poverty level amusement park and restaurant fare in Orlando. With gas what it is, the commute is becoming impossible so the only hope people had of a good paying job was that bullet train. Now, well, welcome back to poverty level. Both sides of the lake will finally be equal until the first good hurricane and then you will be washing down the Hillsboro river by me. Oh, did I forget to mention the levies won't have any progress at all in shoring them up for at least 10 years.

Yes siree, our goobenor is making this state real friendly to corporations. Shortly they will have an infinite supply of highly educated workers living below poverty level all courtesy of Governor Scott, the GOP and the Tea Party. Hey, the good news is that you don't have to worry about Obamacare. You can't afford aspirin at CVS....How are you guys feeling about the people you elected? How's it working out for you? Hey, I'm fine. We own all our property and made our plans based on never being able to collect a penny we paid into the Social Security System which YOUR elected GOP Tea Party darlings are in Washington working on slashing with a pick axe. BUT the good news is, that nasty abortion issue is resolved, family planning is out of business but it doesn't really matter because you couldn't afford that anyway under your favorite bridge. Just keep waving that old Bible and sooner or later you will discover what people in the third world nations I grew up in discovered: not only are they inedible but they don't burn worth a sh......when you are cold.

Forecast for Friday, 02/18/11

Today's Tarot Card is the Five of Swords. Opportunities others pass up are yours for the taking. On the other hand, projects left undone will be taken over by others and you will get none of the credit, so guard what is yours today.

The Moon is Full at 3:36 AM EST at 29Leo20.

The Sun enters Pisces at 7:25 PM EST.

For the next week social events are not favored as they tend to start more wars than fun.

The Moon is Void of Course from 3:36 Am to 4:39 AM when she enters Virgo and we sterilize everything.

Dreams are vivid and disturbing over night. It is just the influences so don't read too much into them.  Early morning calls have teachers upset as details have been overlooked. After lunch, money matters do not have you a happy camper. However, by mid afternoon, change is in the wind but it is wrapped in red tape and steeped in regulations.

I do love how our Goobenor spins things. It is the typical corporate line. The drug data base, designed to catch people who are doctor shopping and getting too many prescription for pain killers is a really bad idea because it violates privacy (and we can't help but wonder exactly whose) and won't stop the pill mills.
Well, it is working in other states because as usual, this is not the whole story. No, it will do little to curb the pill mills if they refuse to cooperate. Unfortunately, the people at the pill mill doorstep are also in the too late to do much category. The data base is designed to catch people before they become full blown drug addicts, sleeping in their cars waiting for the doors to open in a strip mall and become thieves and abusers to feed their addiction.
Seven people die in Florida a day from prescription drug overdose every day. That doesn't even touch the number that die from related causes like liver, pancreatic and heart failure due to over use of these medications. That number doesn't even begin to take into account the newborns screaming in nurseries trying to get through withdrawal from prescription drug addiction given to them by the mothers. That figure doesn't even begin to count the number of children and babies dead from neglect or abuse because mother and daddy can't get their fix tonight. The figure doesn't even touch the broken homes, muggings and burglaries fueling this epidemic and our goobenor is worried about privacy. The hospital has no choice but to send these newborns home with an addicted mother (privacy issues) knowing she is going to be whacked out and probably forget to feed it. Apparently this goober has trouble understanding that if you don't comply with the law and report these prescriptions, you will hauled off in handcuffs and thrown into a small cell with bars. Oh, I forgot, he would have trouble with that one.....

Forecast for Thursday, 02/17/11

Napoleon's Mother meets Possum

I am still paying Napoleon for the Advantage yesterday. This debt may be bigger than the deficit.

Today's Tarot Card is the Queen of Cups and the Star.A very controlling woman has you out of balance. Take your power back!

Irritating dreams about a social event may wake you early this morning or worse yet, the dreaded "help me" phone call from someone in authority. Get out of bed as this will help you cut through some red tape.
Arguments punctuate the afternoon and by late night, you are ready to blow your top. Ease up, the moon is almost full and affecting your emotions.

For the next few weeks, trust your intuition or if you are a little shaky on it, get a psychic reading. This is a very psychic time and also a very confusing one. Romance is in the air for the air signs of Aquarius, Gemini and Libra, but so is deception. Thus, avoid internet relationships.

Forecast for Wednesday, 02/16/11

Napoleon

I, Napoleon, have taken over the blog tonight to tell you what a good son I am. First, I let the Momma sleep all day because I knew she was sick. I did wake her up to take her BP medication like I always do at 5 AM. Then I came to her even though I knew what was going to happen to me and I stood there, perfectly still while she put that AWFUL Advantage on me.
Janice: He also rolled his eyes back and demanded a yogurt for payment.

Today's Tarot Card is the Nine of Cups Reversed. Generosity is the by word to day. Give a little back.

The Moon is Void of Course from 2:06 AM to 4:14 AM EST so most of us won't even notice. The Moon is now in Leo and people tend to be show offish, selfish and totally focused on me, myself and mine. The morning starts with teachers and educators being pretty upset as they feel other people are getting ego points at their expense. By lunch money is flowing rapidly but will it reach its intended destination. That is always a problem with Aries aspects. It may start out right and never finish. By mid afternoon you know that change is not coming and you know you deserve it, so a little temper tantrum may be in the works.

As Napoleon said, I have a cold and am not feeling too well. Send some energetic chicken soup. My aura will receive it!

Forecast for Tuesday, 02/15/11

There is one thing about Valentine's Day. You see more men in stores with the deer caught in headlight look than any other time of the year. Tonight I helped one poor guy not buy wilted roses. As for me, George was kind of limited as I discovered I really am allergic to chocolate. I want to howl at the Moon. First a Druid that is allergic to Oak pollen and now a woman allergic to chocolate. The Universe really hates me!


Allergy or not, I had a dark chocolate Reese's Peanut butter cup. I will pay later but it will be my last chocolate. Instead George got me a rubber stamp. I am a stamper. There, I admitted it!



Today's Tarot Card is the Fool. It is a day of new beginnings that start with a leap of faith.



Another astrologically annoying day is in the works. We start with a square as once again we are reminded by family members we are not getting the beautiful object of our desire. Then we move on to an entire day of inconjuncts which just make you edgy. Early morning communications are really pulling at your last nerve. By evening you are ready to climb the walls and by late night it really is you that is the problem. Cancer and Libra really have it worse that the rest but expect Gemini, Aquarius, Scorpio and Pisces to be feeling these influences pretty strongly, too. This might be the night to chill out with the bottle of wine. Shoot, I bought the new chocolate wine.....



I am finding it fascinating that the news media and the pundits are scratching their head trying to make some sense of the new Florida budget. Give up guys. This thing was put together by special interests in back rooms using "sound" corporate logic and you are never going to figure it out until you follow the trail of who is going to benefit. Well, one thing is for sure, our department of urban planning designed to keep the developers in line is now dead in the water and the water shall be dead soon enough if we have any left after the over development that always follows.



Our drug data base to stop the 7 deaths a day from prescription drug overdose in Florida (no one counts the other states we supply) is also dead. The only question is why and the Goobenor's office has been silent except for a muttering about privacy issues. If I remember correctly, 44 states already have this data base in place. So I asked myself, why? And it's funny how the answers just come to me...it's not the data base or privacy issues, it's whose names will appear on them for law enforcement to see. Seems around here, the GOP, radical conservatives and Tea Parties hold the record on perscription drug abuse and this data base would put them in the spotlight. Well, that's the only reason I can come up with. How about you?



There is one thing we know for sure, this outsider is planning on passing laws and budgets and slashing departments without an explanation to anyone, so you can just forget your protests. He listens to no one except perhaps the voices whispering in his ear and he explains nothing, answers no questions and generally will be unaccessible unless you have Tea Party credentials and brain damage. Welcome to the new Tea Party/GOP definition of Democracy. It goes with their new constitution.

Forecast for Tuesday, 02/15/16

There is one thing about Valentine's Day. You see more men in stores with the deer caught in headlight look than any other time of the year. Tonight I helped one poor guy not buy wilted roses. As for me, George was kind of limited as I discovered I really am allergic to chocolate. I want to howl at the Moon. First  a Druid that is allergic to Oak pollen and now a woman allergic to chocolate. The Universe really hates me!
Allergy or not, I had a dark chocolate Reese's Peanut butter cup. I will pay later but it will be my last chocolate. Instead George got me a rubber stamp. I am a stamper. There, I admitted it!

Today's Tarot Card is the Fool. It is a day of new beginnings that start with a leap of faith.

Another astrologically annoying day is in the works. We start with a square as once again we are reminded by family members we are not getting the beautiful object of our desire. Then we move on to an entire day of inconjuncts which just make you edgy. Early morning communications are really pulling at your last nerve. By evening you are ready to climb the walls and by late night it really is you that is the problem. Cancer and Libra really have it worse that the rest but expect Gemini, Aquarius, Scorpio and Pisces to be feeling these influences pretty strongly, too. This might be the night to chill out with the bottle of wine. Shoot, I bought the new chocolate wine.....

I am finding it fascinating that the news media and the pundits are scratching their head trying to make some sense of the new Florida budget. Give up guys. This thing was put together by special interests in back rooms using "sound" corporate logic and you are never going to figure it out until you follow the trail of who is going to benefit. Well, one thing is for sure, our department of urban planning designed to keep the developers in line is now dead in the water and the water shall be dead soon enough if we have any left after the over development that always follows.

Our drug data base to stop the 7 deaths a day from prescription drug overdose in Florida (no one counts the other states we supply) is also dead. The only question is why and the Goobenor's office has been silent except for a muttering about privacy issues. If I remember correctly, 44 states already have this data base in place. So I asked myself, why? And it's funny how the answers just come to me...it's not the data base or privacy issues, it's whose names will appear on them for law enforcement to see. Seems around here, the GOP, radical conservatives and Tea Parties hold the record on perscription drug abuse and this data base would put them in the spotlight. Well, that's the only reason I can come up with. How about you?

There is one thing we know for sure, this outsider is planning on passing laws and budgets and slashing departments without an explanation to anyone, so you can just forget your protests. He listens to no one except perhaps the voices whispering in his ear and he explains nothing, answers no questions and generally will be unaccessible unless you have Tea Party credentials and brain damage. Welcome to the new Tea Party/GOP definition of Democracy. It goes with their new constitution.

Forecast for Monday, 02/14/11

It's Valentine's Day, so watch out for little guys in diapers flying around randomly shooting arrows. Come to think of it, that is probably good advice for any day.
What a weird night we had. We are totally aware of what kids were hired to break into the shop and they showed up last night, even in the same SUV, begging and I mean begging to be allowed in so they could case the place. They didn't get through the front gate.
Around 2 AM I heard a cat crying at the house and thought Mr. B was having one of his insecurities. When I turned on the light, Napoleon was looking at the back window. Around 3, George woke me up and said a cat was crying outside and he was going to look for it. Since I was up, ladies, we all know that feeling, I put on my sweater coat and went outside. He couldn't see anything but I quickly spied a huge beige cat with long fur by the oak tree. I have never seen this cat in the neighborhood. We put a bowl of food out and went back to bed. Something woke George at 4 AM and he walked down to the shop and found nothing so he stayed a while and came home. You just never know when we will be here. Some nights we don't leave.
Way later this afternoon, I awoke. I spent all night having trouble with my legs and finally figured out it all started when I bought some dark chocolate because it is supposed to be good for me. Apparently it is not good for you if you have RLS so I am not eating any more of that. I also have a minor cold which I am happy to say is finally going away tonight. When we got to the shop, an animal had curled up in my front pot, broke my faery's wings and generally flattened my favorite flowers. Now what cat would sleep in front of the parking lot, right out in the open in a flower pot? I wonder if the portal opened last night.....

Today's Tarot Card is the Four of Cups. It is beginning to seem like you are the only one saying "I love you" in a relationship. Perhaps it is time for a talk.

The Void of Course ends at 12:48 AM EST when the moon enters Cancer and we retreat to home and family to nest and rest for a while.
For a couple of days, expect some sort of good news about remodeling or some project involving beauty.
Family members are not happy about money and property in the AM and prone to arguments. They do not want change. Elders are firmly entrenched in the past today. Even social events tonight are a trial.

Always call to see if we are here. Actually, that is not reliable because we both tend to wander outside and forget to take the phone with us or lose it in the shop. The presence of the Vanwitch is no guarantee we are not here because we both have bikes and ofter use them instead of the Van to get here and we also have two feet....However, if the gate is locked it means we really don't want visitors at that moment. I do take a nap every once in a while....Next week, I really hope we are both feeling better and keeping more regular hours.

Miracles in a Vanwitch

Red Tailed Hawk
Fm Wikipedea

The other night I was driving around the neighborhood area when I had the impression of something next to the Vanwitch. There, keeping pace with the van, right at window level was a red tailed hawk flying beside me. It turned its head and looked at me and then flew off into the evening.

Forecast for Sunday, 02/13/11

Petey Pie Black

I had a rough night. First the medication my RLS refused to work and when it finally kicked in around 3 AM, I had an attack of sciatica. In my case, it feels like someone sticking red hot pins under my big toe nails. I reached for the bottle of pain medication and took my quarter of a pill. That knocked me out of it and as you all know, just when you get out of it, you have to run to the bathroom.
In the bathroom I find George's old adoptee stuck in the garbage can with my little crippled ancient cat trying to get her out. Talk about the blind leading the blind... Well, the first question was how a cat was stuck in something that was bigger than her. You must understand, this is not a nice cat. She was left by her first owners and by the time the kids laid a big enough guilt trip on the adults to make them come back for her, she refused to have anything to do with them and ran across the street and hid at the shop. Then, because I was sick and refused to walk down to the shop in a deluge to get a bumper sticker for an ex-friend, he stomped on her. We won't mention breaking my car window to try and peel the sticker off it. Anyway, although my vet has had no luck saving cats with this injury, she is the second cat I have managed to save, though they can never lift their tails again and she lost about two inches of the end of hers from nerve damage. She is also ancient not to mention that as a young cat she was a real witch with the second letter. This cat is nasty and she was screaming her head off. So, I decided that since I already had pain medication in me, I would drag the cat out and patch myself up in the morning. Meanwhile, Petey Pie Black is having a pacing fit not knowing what to do. Oh that poor naive cat, I had no idea what I was doing. It turned out she had one claw caught on a piece of plastic in the garbage can that a day old kitten could have broken and because of that was laying in the floor on her side screaming with the garbage can over her head. I made it out without a scratch. It is nights like that that I mutter, "Why me???" I mean, couldn't the goddess send me the sweet, nice normal cats with 2 left feet instead of 4? Because of that, I slept really late.

Today's Tarot Card is Temperance. It is time to get all things including yourself into balance.

The Moon goes Void of Course at 10:19 PM EST. Dreams may have provided the key to lifting limitations. The morning starts with an abundance of energy and thoughts come faster than you can keep track of them. Ideas abound and you need to sift through and choose the best ones. By afternoon you are feeling really good about yourself. Late night is both romantic and psychic, so trust your intuition because all that glitters is not gold and the fur will fly a bit later.

I know I have been very quiet about Egypt. I try to be optimistic, but I am a realist. We and I do mean this country, overthrew the previous ruler who brought Egypt into the 20th century and made it a modern country that recognised the rights of women. We, this country, installed this dictator in his stead and starting throwing Egypt back into the dark ages. We did the same thing in Iraq as no matter how brutal a dictator may have been in power, he had modernized the country and gave women rights. Now, it is lock stepping back into the dark ages of repression. Funny how that seems to works. So, am I happy for them? Yes, I am. Am I optimistic? No. This country has a reputation for supporting repressive dictators that prefer the dark ages to the 21st century in the Arabic region which also grows us some nice terrorists to blow us up. It makes you wonder...
I also wonder about the pension thing in the State of Florida. Here is what the government and the newspapers are cleverly not saying. A cop makes 40,000.00 a year laying their lives on the line to protect the bank CEO and that makes 4 million a year with a 1-2 million dollar bonus and his property, the bank, from vandalism and theft. The teacher who takes care of their little brats makes even less. The only incentive for taking these jobs has been the guarantee of a nice pension if you survive your 30 years. Let me tell you, for most government workers, that pension is not enough to survive on after retirement. Now for what no one is talking about: WHERE IS THE MONEY THE GOVERNMENT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PUTTING ASIDE FOR EACH WORKER?????  This is like a savings account. It can't go broke unless someone has been playing fast and loose with the funds. If so, I think we need some indictments for theft, fraud and mismanagement. Every Broward County Commissioner makes over $100,000.00 a year for a part time job and the cop who defends them makes $40,000.00 and they don't pay anything into a retirement fund either! Think about it!
From the time I was a kid, I learned one lesson. You don't put money into the stock market or mutual funds that you can not afford to lose. The stock market was and is a rich man's game.

Dear Mr. President, I'm sorry, We're doomed.

I must admit I find your speeches uplifting and inspiring right up until you got to the part about it being American ingenuity that will lift us out of this crises, just like it always has. It was at that moment, I knew we were doomed. Rome collapsed slower than we will. Allow me to explain.
A few weeks ago, in an effort to save money, I ordered some Diabetic socks from a small merchant on EBAY. Now, the top of the line socks for those of us with swelling ankles are Dr. Scholls but they are really expensive and really soft. So, I bit the bullet and got a cheaper brand.
When they arrived the first thing I noticed was they are not as soft but that is why they make fabric softener. I decided to try the first pair. Please note the label in huge letters said: Diabetic Socks: nonbinding. By the end of the day they had proven that was not the case. I could have, as I guarantee as I used to sell on EBAY, done what 99% of the people would do. I could have cussed the merchant out, thought they are just selling a product they have been guaranteed by a manufacturer is what it says it is. I could have demanded my money back even though by opening the package I had rendered them unsaleable, but what should I care? I could have left bad feedback and filed a complaint with PayPal and done my best to ruin a small business.
Instead I decided I could afford the loss of money and would just toss them in the Cooperative Feeding Bank's clothing box and maybe a really skinny diabetic could wear them.
However, after turning the sock over and over in my hands I became curious. The top was nonbinding but why was my ankle marked? I put the sock on and checked to see where the binding line was on my ankle. It was a full 1.5 inches below the top. I took the sock off and turned it inside out to see what was in that location and that was when I found the manufacturing mistake. The real top of the sock was turned inward and stitched with what should have been a nonbinding elastic. So, I took out my scissors, cut the offending thread out and now I have a dozen pair of nice, nonbinding socks with a little longer cuff.
How many people would think to find out why the sock didn't work? That, dear sir, is why we are doomed. We no longer have the curiosity that fires innovation. We expect someone to protect us, take care of us and everything to be perfect when it arrives at  our doorstep: our products, our children and our mates and if they aren't, surely someone else should pay for that mistake.
We have furnished the outside area of our store with tables and chairs off the big pickup garbage piles. I joke that if I think we need it, I will find it within two weeks thrown out. I am traveling in a 2 by 3 block area! Our dumps over flow and no one stops to think of fixing anything. It's buy, buy, buy and then our economy and jobs have to fuel that buy with credit and more credit. Innovation? A thrown out grass handler for a lawn mower is making two beautiful tree pots. I can't find a matching black pot for the front: spray paint and a cheap plastic one works well. The poles from someone's fence came complete with pot hangers on them and the birds are enjoying the bird feeder hanging from them. They will support a hydroponic hybrid garden shortly.
And so it continues, but I am sooo in the minority. I am from another time when parents told stories of the Great Depression, we repaired our shoes, my mother sewed my clothes and nothing ever hit the garbage can until we were certain it had no other use. Ah, but if I did not live in the county rather than a city this would all be moot because zoning laws do not permit innovation. You have to pick your house color based on what is allowed, have x number of trees, shrubs and square footage of grass in your yard. Even in a severe draught, you MUST have GRASS. Don't bother trying to save electricity and thus oil by hanging your clothes outside. Clothes lines are forbidden. Your fence must be so high and of x variety if you are allowed one. You can only park a certain kind of vehicle in the driveway. You must be like your neighbor. You must exist solely for your neighbors' visual enjoyment. If innovation is the key, we are so doomed.....so very, very doomed.... Innovation has been legislated out of existence.

Forecast for Saturday, 02/12/11

Eventually you will be able to buy one!
First I have to find them...

There is nothing quite like cracking one eye open in the morning to fine a cat intently staring at you. Purdy von Sweets was in steal stalking mode. That is where the cat moves one body part at a time and then freezes for 5 minutes. It is stalking in freeze frame. The only thing I have never understood is how the prey doesn't die of old age or the cat of starvation before the pounce occurs. Anyway, I opened both eyes quickly as I have learned being pounced in the face is no fun. She slowly crept closer and closer until she was right up to my mouth. That was when I realised I had either been sleeping with my mouth open and she wanted my tongue or she was trying to smell my breath. It was the latter. She was checking for breakfast and coffee. A little later she was on all the pillows behind me when I lifted the cup of coffee and she did her elephant rampaging through the bush imitation. That cat is really hooked on coffee. I had to give her a little bit.
Then again I don't know if she is more hooked on coffee than Napoleon is on Yogurt or the shop cats are on Temptations. Loki has already had his howling fit for them at 8 PM. They get them before we leave and we normally close on weekdays at 8, but it is the weekend and we are open an hour later. His monkey doesn't seem to know that.

Today's Tarot Card is the Two of Wands. Anywhere looks better than where you are even though you really have everything you need in your hands.

The morning doesn't go as planned as change is blocked by elders and authorities even though you explain how it is for the best. A noon time social event proves more of a challenge than fun. Good news late this evening makes it all worthwhile. Check you email.

I think the entire country's weather is on a yo-yo string. You don't know whether to keep the heaters out or turn the air on.
The only thing I got done was tying the tomatoes up and some of the lights either down or fixed. I managed to get the price tags ready for the brass candle sticks and then I could only find one candle stick holder. I don't know where they are hiding. I positively couldn't find the safe driving or trip stickers for your car and know they were just here. I think the Fae are having fun today.

Forecast for Friday, 02/11/11

Mini Brooms look great on your rear view mirror!

Oh wow, two elevens!

The rain was brutal. A tree next door hit the deck (ground) and George is cutting it up and mulching it. Hey, never miss out on free plant matter. I'm sure it is saving the owner some money. We don't throw out much around here. More palm fronds came down and I am laughingly threatening to build a Chikee. Aside from that, the infection in my sinuses flared up and I have really been out of it all day. Fortunately no one had an emergency that they needed me to do a reading.

Remember my little rant on PIP. Turns out Florida was declared the top state for PIP fraud in the country yesterday. Another good idea gone really, really bad...That is not all but we finally found out why our Goobenor decided to unveil his budget in tiny town in front of a tiny audience of Tea Partiers. He knows they can't do math. Today it became apparent, when people who can do math looked at it, that most of his savings is from OMITTING items from the budget. They just weren't there. Okay, I have dried my tears and picked myself up off the floor but the snickering continues. You see, way back in another incarnation I was a bookkeeper for Fortune 500 companies. I learned my trade from one of the best crooks on the planet and one thing he taught me was how to prepare a proposed budget that looked really, really good because it omitted those nasty little details like basic costs, compared items that had no relationship to each other..... Giggle...well, I guess it is business as usual for the Goobenor and aren't you just so proud you voted for corporate America to take over the State of Florida. I mean, what could possibly go wrong: AIG?

Today's Tarot Card is the Ten of Cups. Family, friends and happy relationships dominate the day.

The Second Quarter Moon begins at 2:18 AM EST at 22Taurus13. Time to look at all the projects you have started and make needed alterations to get them moving better.

The Afternoon is not the best time for anything but creative pursuits and then they are guaranteed not to make money. Things are just too fuzzy. However, romance is in the air and a surprise really knocks your socks off.
The Moon is Void of Course from 2:27 PM to 5:20 PM EST, so if you stay at work a little late, you will miss the horrendous commute with people on their cell phones hitting each other. Teachers do get upsetting news so you might as well be among peers when it happens.
The Moon enters Gemini at 5:20 PM EST and the emphasis is on mind over emotion, communications and juggling romances. Actually juggling is what Gemini does best and expect to have to do at least two things at once for the next couple of days.

Well, something I have been screaming about for 4 years finally came out and people are MAD. Seems they (the Army Corp of Engineers and if you can't trust the military to shore up your dikes, who can you trust ;) ) have been dumping huge amounts of water out of Lake Okeechobee because they are afraid the levees will break and the water problem is so bad from doing this that they must dump even more water because the salt water is coming in and killing fish nurseries in the rivers and they have to dilute it. Now this whole problem could have been fixed ages ago just by FIXING THE LEVEES but we are a Republican State and that is not a high profit item. So, one good hurricane and we will see how many people we can drown on the really poor side of the Lake and how much of those developments those bleeding heart Liberal Commie Socialists declared protected under the historical act in Kissimmee on that prime development land. Oh yes, there are layers and layers of corruption but in the mean time, we can't even wash our cars.....and they don't expect any progress on the levees for over a 10 years.....

Privelege verses Right

Since the GOP and Tea Party love to play with words and history, I thought we should do a little thinking.
Corporations are now people whereas most people think you need to be HUMAN and alive to be a people. Obviously the GOP disagrees.
How did we get here? Well, the government has been playing loose with language for a long time even thought these guys are lawyers for the most part and should know better.
Let's take insurance. Bottom line is that insurance is insurance. The GOP added the required insurance coverage to "Obamacare" and now are suffering from amnesia and trying to have the entire bill thrown out on that technicality. The government cannot require you to carry insurance. AH, but they have been doing that for years.
Personal Injury Protection or PIP is health insurance. If you elect, you can drop PIP if you have adequate health insurance to cover any injuries you might sustain in an accident. I did it for years. Bet you didn't know that. It was only in the last few years that Florida made it totally mandatory after 20 or more years of it being elective. So, exactly how can the government of Florida justify forcing us have a accident health insurance policy and file a law suit against "Obamacare" based on it forcing us to have insurance????
But, let's move on. Florida is a HUGE state. It is comprised of residential areas isolated from commercial areas which are accessible only by major highways. Driving is taking your life in your hands down here. Now, one person has suggested to avoid car insurance...since I didn't have to buy a car...I should ride a bicycle. Every day someone on a bicycle is killed down here and that is now exaggeration. Two young girls were killed crossing the street two days ago. A firefighter was killed riding his bike in mainly residential area. Several of my friends have been hit multiple times but fortunately survived. BUT, the bottom line is you simply can't from here to there on a bike and we have the worst public transportation that is being but by our GOP Tea Party Governor as we speak. There are no buses to get you most places. Not only that but there are restrictions on how much you can carry on a bus so you might need 3 or 4 trips to the grocery on a bus just to make up for one trip in a car if you could find a bus running there.
The next question is how do you get to work when most business are isolated in "industrial parks", off main 6 or 8 lane highways with no bike lanes or sidewalks and most everyone lives at least 10 miles from their work?
Now I am going to ask you if owning a car is a necessity or a privilege? And don't say take a taxi because no one can afford one of those. They will actually charge you by the person down here. Two people = twice the fare and by the bag! Every time the government wants to take your rights away, they call them a privelege. Remember that people.
We have been swallowing this brown sticky smelly stuff for most of our lives because no one stops to think. We accept everything in soundbites or tweets without ever stopping to think what the REAL alternative is.
The bottom line is that every uninsured person costs YOU and ME MONEY the moment they get sick and they COST US A LOT OF MONEY because our tax dollars wind up paying the full retail cost for their care not the lower negotiated price the insurance company pays.
NOW FOR A DOSE OF REALITY. The only people with car insurance down here are the good drivers. Everyone I know who gets hit, gets hit by an uninsured driver and yet, the state is supposed to confiscate your tag if you don't have insurance. The problem is, their great uncle three times removed who has 16 cars has the insurance and doesn't know they are driving the car without a license even though they paid him so much a week to drive the car. Guess what, there is no law to punish old great uncle over there so once again, You and I pay through the nose for something we probably don't need because it is going to be useless to us.
If you have a new car that is financed, your insurance is useless unless you managed to pay through the nose for a "gap policy". That is a policy that covers the amount your car depreciates the moment you drive it off the lot verses the amount of the loan you just took out. So if you total your car on the way out of the lot, you are still going to wind up paying the full amount of the loan or about 5 grand or more over what the insurance policy you just bought will cover. Did anyone ever bother to tell you that??? Heck no. I found out when a friend totaled her new car. She had Gap insurance but they made her jump through hoops to collect on it.
I trust the government about as far as my ancestors the Blackfoot trust it.....