I began the day with a hacking cough, reminding me of my state of poverty in this wealthy America.

It was the end of the day that sort of caught me unawares. 

Annoyed by the morons driving ahead of me down Nolansville Rd, Nashville,  I finally zipped past the occupants with their  unpleasant visages - and who, I might add, threw rubbish out of the car window.

Humphf! I grunted self-righteously as I overtook and put my foot down on the accelerator. 

It was around the very next bend that it happened. A huge tree fell right across the road. Had I been a second or two sooner I would most certainly have been impaled like shish kebab. Tree fellers jumped like crickets in a cupboard as the murdered tree crashed to the ground.

It took about a minute to realize that those two disreputable looking creatures had most certainly been put in my path at precisely the right time for precisely the right amount of time.

But, oy! if they were angels they were indeed ugly. Not a bit like the ones you see portrayed on TV.

Naturally, this near death experience made me feel quite special for the rest of the week.

State~of~Poverty: 

the official 53rd state of the United States of America, 

ruled over by yours truly - 

the intrepid explorers of disposable beans.

The Teeth Saga

It has been too many moons since I was able to get my teeth checked. 

The price of being unable to pay is dental decay.

Now that I have a permanent job I signed up for the max medical benefits. Even with the reputed "but the benefits are good" illusions of the well paid members of this company, the cost quoted to me by a dentist was $2,700 - that's just my share! Naturally, I am unable to pay even the $50 co-pay. Therefore my pearly-no-longer-so-whites will have to continue to be just so sore and sorry. 

Thus it was I persuaded handsome Jim to take me to the Dental School this morning. After trekking around the entire city (I have no sense of direction) with filling-exploding blood pressures, we arrived. 

The odor of old urine greeted me. Two more appointments lie ahead of me before they so much as repair a filling. Two more half days off.....and a co-pay of $50.  

By the end of the day I had worked out my finances for Friday's paycheck and I cried.  $20 with which to put petrol in the borrowed car, feed my animals, buy  cigarettes/nicoderm cq patches and eat. 

The tears welled up and spilled over my cheeks. I phoned my dear friend, Lynne who calmed me somewhat.

The future looked bleak for a good hour.  I went outside and there it was: a beautiful rainbow attached to the earth.

God put it there just for me. The color of hope returned to my heart.