Ticks Suck

We usually only see one or two ticks a year, but we have already seen a dozen or so this season, and it's way early yet. I have not heard of those vegetarian ticks, but they are always warning us about our deer ticks, which carry lime disease. I don't even know if those are the ones we have been seeing, these are really small and black. I have picked ticks off of dogs before, and I seem to remember that they were much larger and tan in color. The dog ticks were easy to kill, just pinch them between your thumb nail and forefinger until they pop, but these little black fuckers are almost indestructible. We've found that the best bet is just flush them down the toilet or down the drain in the shower, which is where they commonly become noticeable. This year, however, we are spotting them on our clothing after coming in from outside which, I suppose, is better than not seeing them until they have latched on to you.

We don't have voice mail, caller ID, or any of those fancy gadgets, just a regular telephone. We hardly use it, but we need to keep it for emergencies and the occasional call from our daughter. Some months there are only one or two outgoing calls on our bill, and I'm sure that our incoming calls are more spammers and scammers than regular people. We are on the National Phone Registry, but that doesn't stop the politicians and other crooks. I have tried all kinds of smart alecky responses, intending to waste their time and perhaps discourage them from calling us again. My current favorite is "Shut up and leave me alone!" I got that from an old Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown tries to make friends with his bunk mate at summer camp and, no matter what Charlie says, the kid responds with "Shut up and leave me alone!" It might be my imagination, but we seem to be getting less of those calls since I started using that one. If it's a robo-call, I press "1" to get a live person and, if that doesn't work, I press all the numbers at random until they hang up, hoping to confuse their machine.

From what I've heard, Trump Care is going to be nothing more than a re-hash of Obama Care, taking the money out of one pocket and putting it into another. What they should do is to put everybody on one program, like Medicare or Medicaid, and then abolish all the other programs. Private insurance could still be available for the things not covered, but it should be strictly voluntary. For people who cannot afford the deductible or co-pay, there should be charity hospitals and clinics like there was before health insurance was invented.

I didn't go downtown any more than I had to as a kid. I got a part time job during my senior year that was on Clinton, one block over from Canal, which was sort of downtown but not actually in the Loop. I used to catch the Archer Express on California after school but, for some reason, I would take the Lake Street El to Kedzie, then the Kedzie bus to 51st Street on the way home. Maybe the Archer Express didn't run after a certain hour or maybe it was just because I liked riding the rails. For whatever reason, it took about the same time either way. That Kedzie bus stop under the Lake Street El was kind of spooky after dark, but I never had any trouble. Well there was that one time when this little colored kid was talking to me and admiring my ROTC uniform. About a half dozen older kids, maybe my own age, came sauntering over from across the street, which made me a little nervous, but they sauntered away after the little kid assured them that we were just talking and that everything was fine. Thinking about it later, I thought it was admirable that those Black dudes were so protective of their little brother. I'm not sure that the local hoodlums in our own neighborhood would have done the same.