Deborah Woehr

We had fog and chilly wind all last week, which is strange for July. Come to think of it, last summer was just as mild. Today is hot–somewhere in the mid-nineties. The nice thing about living near the coast is the fog, which is our natural air-conditioner. I’m praying that we’ll have some more of that by this weekend, when my husband and I conduct our second phase of moving.

My husband and I worked 12 hours straight on Saturday moving his mother out of her house, and we’re still not finished. This woman is the queen mother of shop-a-holics, but let’s not go there. The real frustration lies in her unwillingness to help herself or us, where the move is concerned.

I’m trying to understand that she lived in that house for 30+ years and that it’s very hard to uproot yourself and move elsewhere. I understand that it’s very hard to overcome an addiction, having an addictive personality myself. I can’t understand what it’s like losing a spouse and then having to sift through all the memories because my husband is still alive.

What pissed me off was her badmouthing (all day) about my sister-in-law and the friends who came over to help her move her monstrosity. She had nothing nice to say, which has always been the case whenever any of us ever tried to do anything for her. That’s why I don’t bother anymore. The only reason I was there on Saturday was to help my husband.

I guess I’m still hanging onto the expectation that she will grow up and take charge of her life instead of leaving it up to someone else to do it for her. But that’s unrealistic, since she’s always had somebody to take care of her. So, maybe I need to grow up, suck it up, and pray that she doesn’t sap the life out of my husband the way she did my father-in-law.

Thanks for listening.

I just read a post about Katie Flynn about a horrific drunk driving accident that took the life of a seven year-old girl as well as a limo driver in Long Island. This post spoke volumes to me because twenty years ago, I never thought about the consequences of drinking and driving.

I shared the same fatalistic attitude that nothing bad will happen if I get into a car with a drunk driver. Although I’ve never driven while drunk, I once drove while I was stoned. Fortunately, I was on a residential street, but still . . .

Twenty years later, I look back on that incident (as well as the time where I rode along with a group full of stoned guys up Highway 17 to Santa Cruz) and consider myself lucky to have survived without incident. It never occurred to me that the driver could have smashed his car into the side of the mountain. I’ve since gotten over my fatalism.

But there are those who will never grow out of theirs. I’ll cite Martin Heidgen (the drunk in the above article) as an example. This guy has prior DUIs in three different states. His fatalistic and irresponsible attitude not only killed a little girl and a limo driver, but caused irrevocable pain for three families.

There is a debate going on right now whether or not drunk drivers should be charged with murder. In California, if you kill a person while driving under the influence, you are charged with vehicular manslaughter.

I don’t know what that punishment brings now, but I know that one of my family member’s boyfriend got community service for vehicular manslaughter while driving recklessly (at a speed of 70-90 mph). The male passenger was life-flighted to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. His wife lost an eye and was paralyzed. The boyfriend was sentenced to serve 200 hours of community service. I was pissed that he got off so easy.

In my mind, there should be stiffer penalties for DUIs as well as reckless driving, especially the ones involving fatalities. Should they be charged with premeditated murder, as one commenter suggested? I feel that’s too strong. 2nd degree, definitely.

Give them at least 10 years behind bars for their stupidity–one life saved for every year.

I found this article while looking up the key word “ghost stories” for a new site I’m planning to build that will contain ghost stories as well as research articles on the subject of the paranormal.

What got me interested was back in 60s when I taught at Campbellsville College — which is now Campbellsville University. I took my class out on a field work project. We would go out and record ghost stories told by local people. They were so interesting that I decided to come up with book later on. That book, thanks to my students, became “Ghosts Along the Cumberland,” and they have run out of all the copies. They’re already reprinting it for the fifth time.

Read more of this article.

I promised myself that I would be a much more consistent blogger when I set up this one. However, between working and writing the eleventh chapter of Prosperity, I’ve had virtually no time for blogging. The last week of June just melted away.

Last weekend, I bought a manual on Movable Type so I can learn the ins and outs of this program. That’s sitting in my car, where it will remain until my creative juice dries up.

Unless something pops out at me that I just have to write about, I won’t be posting this weekend. Have a safe and wonderful holiday.