Monday, June 30, 2008

Spending time with the work-free.

There is something to be said for camping next to a reservoir of snow melt. When the days are 96, and the generators aren’t doing their job, there’s still a place to go. 

My goal is to do this on ONE, WORKING generator. We will see if we meet that goal soon. ;-)

The weekend and the locals show up. Friendly bunch, of course they all know each other. Funny enough and giving too; the one with the job and his employment-won spoils of blue juice and airline carpet.
The jobless one “will work for food”, as he’s out of food stamps and says it’s nearly impossible to find work with a past felony. At least it wasn’t the playboy bunny on his chest, filled in with the confederate flag that he will proudly offer to show you within minutes of meeting you. That would just be prejudice.
We donated hamburgers, salad, camper baked cookies, water and let them try the absinthe.
Hey, somebody’s gotta drink it. ;-) Fortunately it wasn’t the 12 year old daughter. She had cigarettes to smoke and a boyfriend to molest. Yes, I said 12.

Her mom told me she “had to quit breastfeeding because she wasn’t getting enough nutrition.” All I could do is stare blankly at her as I nurse Ember. What do you SAY to that? I don’t feel it’s a very good opportunity to do any educating. I figure that by nursing Ember so openly and casually around them, and her obvious health and happiness in doing so; that’s about the best support of breastfeeding I can offer this situation right here. I imagine that within a year or two, that 12 year old daughter might need to remember back to “that lady that breastfed in the campground”. *Shrug* who knows.
I know that they made use of the local free faire, (fish & crawfish) which is a good thing. One might say they ate well, as the price of trout and crawfish is high. I can’t wait to catch some of our own.
They admitted that their gas had been shut off, and without warm showers, there’s not a single reason they should be sitting at home. I agree.
One of them said that he “comes up here to get away from it all”. I guess that’s why any of us come up here really.

Just because they drink their absinthe mixed with Mountain Dew and we choose to not drink it at all and they take donations from the Food Co-op when we BUY from them. I can see how it's easy to have giant chasms in the social classes. It's a very different world when you are a "have-not". Mark has never known people like this. I was raised around them in Tennessee. Hell, I have relatives that live this way, only they are usually in and out of jail. It is a different world, yet we aren't so different in many of the basic ways though. We all want a little peace of mind. They are all very nice. I wish them all the best.
Living in a camper and meeting different people each day is going to really open up some commentary with Sagan (and Ember when she’s older) on social issues. I can see that. It is a good thing.

It’s still lovely to look out onto the water. Swim when we want. Fish when we want. The water is really clear and wonderfully cold.

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