What an awful and bizarre week . . . .

[indianasmith]

It has definitely been a stressful and strange week or two here in the suburbs of Greenville, TX.  Last Sunday night, a few miles from my house, a young couple called 911 to say that the baby they were watching for their cousin had stopped breathing and they were going to take him to the hospital.  There was an ambulance nearby, as it happened, so the 911 operator directed them to meet the paramedics at a local overpass.  The paramedics found that the child had been dead for several hours from massive blunt force trauma to the head.  The police officer who investigated said that the child was the victim of the most brutal abuse he'd ever seen in his 20 years in law enforcement, and it looks as if the abuse had been going on for some time.  The couple that were caring for the child are facing capital murder charges, and are being held with $2 million bond till trial.
   Two days later, a much-loved local schoolteacher  was chased down by her estranged husband and gunned down in cold blood, with her children watching from the back seat of the car and the cops literally pulling up behind him as it happened.  He calmly surrendered and confessed on the spot.
  The next morning my mother-in-law, whom we live with, fell and broke her hip - actually, she broke the very top of the femur.  They had done a full hip replacement by that evening and she is now up and walking and giving the rehab nurses a fit.  She's  a feisty old gal and I love her dearly, it looks like she is going to be fine.  But still, it's made for a stressful week.
  Then on the news last night I saw that a man over in Dallas walked into his son's birthday party at the local skating rink, wished the boy a happy birthday, and then gunned down his wife and five members of his family, then shot himself.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CRAZY WORLD??????


  On top of all that, we are now into the THIRD week of a home improvement project that was supposed to take three DAYS.  It has become a leech destroying the last few weeks of my summer vacation!
  Then finally, I got an email from my mom tonight that my Dad, who broke his hip in February and has had a very difficult recovery, fell again this evening.  I will have to go and stay with him in the morning while she goes in for a doctor's appointment.
It has just NOT been a good week at the ranch!



FRIDAY I am going to the lake and drown my troubles . . . or at least, that's the plan of the moment.


So how was your week?

[RCMerchant]

Wow. Sorry about yer Mother-in-law.
As for the psychos and the project taking too long-I think it's the heat. Makes people crazy and work a major undertaking. Heck,even walking the mile to work every morning is a chore.
 Here-beyond being really hot...ok (for once.)
Oh..except another body found in Hartford. That's 2 in 2 weeks.
Not counting the 2 dead women in Hartford from 2 seperate murders in Hartford from this spring.
Hartford is about 105 miles from here-the place is turning into Murder City,Van Buern County.

OH-THE WORLD IS BEYOND CRAZY. IT'S STARK RAVING MAD.

[Flick James]

Sorry to hear about the troubles, friend.

You know, I sometimes contemplate the "is the world going crazy" question. After many such contemplations, I still haven't come to a conclusion. It's true that such events make one wonder.

Do these things just get reported more and we hear about them more because of the ease of information? Or do they happen more often than they did?

Do things happen in waves? I mean, there have been periods of madness in history with things like this happening or even worse.

I just don't know. Is society getting worse? Is it just the same as it's always been? Has it been worse at times than it is now?

After enough contemplation I tend to just give up and not let myself dwell on it, and make the best life for my myself and my family that I can.

I wish you a better week.

[Trevor]

Then finally, I got an email from my mom tonight that my Dad, who broke his hip in February and has had a very difficult recovery, fell again this evening.  I will have to go and stay with him in the morning while she goes in for a doctor's appointment.
It has just NOT been a good week at the ranch!

I've been meaning to ask you how Dad is now, Indy: I'm sorry to hear that all is not well. Send him our best, our love and like Flick said, hope you have a better week. 

[Flick James]

You should watch the local/regional commercials posted in the TV forum. They will cheer you up, I promise.

 

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

hey Indy,
 I think every once in a while everything piles up in one's geography.  You just had a perfect S***storm this week, only can up uphill from there eh?

Ed

[indianasmith]

Spent the morning with my Dad.  I don't think this fall injured him, but it is breaking my heart to see this big, strong man I adore reduced to a shadow of who he used to be.  He uses a walker and basically goes from his bed to his easy chair.  Mom pries him out of the house every two or three days, but every little trip exhausts him. 

  My wife's mom, however, is making a great recovery and will probably be home in a couple of weeks.  And the Home Improvement Project From Hell is nearing conclusion, finally!!  (the "three day project" just finished its FIFTEENTH day!).  Best of all, my wife has agreed to let me go on an overnight arrowhead safari, leaving tomorrow evening.  Yeeehaw!  Life is looking up!!

(Oh, and to my knowledge, no one got killed within a 20 mile radius of my house in the last couple days!)

[AndyC]

Spent the morning with my Dad.  I don't think this fall injured him, but it is breaking my heart to see this big, strong man I adore reduced to a shadow of who he used to be.  He uses a walker and basically goes from his bed to his easy chair.  Mom pries him out of the house every two or three days, but every little trip exhausts him.

I can definitely sympathize with you. Watching your parents get old is a sad and sometimes scary thing.

My parents' health has been declining as well. My mom has had problems for years, but she is now in a nursing home at only 76. And my dad, who has always exercised, was pretty sharp, and used to have a reputation as one seriously tough cop, has been declining faster of late. Angina, a couple of little strokes, and some obvious signs of failing memory and mental faculties. And he just doesn't feel like doing anything anymore. Mom at least has an active social life where she is, and seems happy. Dad is more like me - introverted and reluctant to open up to people. He's perfectly aware of what's happening to him, and I think he's largely just given up to quietly await the inevitable.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

You should watch the local/regional commercials posted in the TV forum. They will cheer you up, I promise.

 

I haven't seen any of the commercials, but one of my inside sources confirmed that Indy's home improvement project is going just fine 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0eVX34DxFQ
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[Allhallowsday]

Sadly, humankind has a savage history.  I think the concept of terror is what is maddening; we can communicate all thoughts and deeds in milliseconds, so everything is available to peruse, refuse, or disabuse.  Telecommunication complicates our lives, but people are as cruel, evil, and savage as ever.  God help us, I think just mass communication is the difference.  People have always killed each other, and often cruelly or savagely. 

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

Sadly, humankind has a savage history.  I think the concept of terror is what is maddening; we can communicate all thoughts and deeds in milliseconds, so everything is available to peruse, refuse, or disabuse.  Telecommunication complicates our lives, but people are as cruel, evil, and savage as ever.  God help us, I think just mass communication is the difference.  People have always killed each other, and often cruelly or savagely. 

What upsets me more than anything else, is the thing in Indy's inaugural thread about the baby with blunt force trauma to his head.  Why? Why babies?

And that young boy who now is struggling to understand why his father killed 5 members of his family and himself (again, see inaugural post.) Now, there's a kid without parents, possibly with PTSD for the rest of his life, as well as asking why.

If it were sickness, or an accident, it's at least more understandable and accepted. But when it's senseless and needless (as these two things) it leaves you struggling even more to understand...