Blacklidge

Pomegranate Secrets

 

How To De-Seed A Pomegranate with Martha Stewart 

http://youtu.be/Y_KKvqQ2QxUMartha Stewart-how to open a pomegranate

Racism, Alive and Well in Ajo, Arizona

And every other town in America. Most of them don't even try to hide it.

 

By accident, I found myself in Ajo today. Nice little place to spend the winter, especially if you get one of those cool, old houses in the historic district. Funny thing, saw a church sign when I went down the main drag. It said, "Our leaders should look like Jesus" or something like that. I meant to take a picture but I forgot. Anyhoo.....when I got over cussing at them, I started laughing because as most people know, that beautiful Jesus you see in all the literature of today is merely a composite and sort of a wish list made up of years of priests and preachers idea of Jesus. So here is depiction of modern day Jesus next to a CGI model of what he probably really looked like. It was based on the times, the area he came from and other factors like that. Hmm...what on earth could that preacher in that rundown, ratty looking church meant by his hate filled sign? I think there should be some new legislation after this election.  Tax the churches. Oh, yeah, big time. I bet they'd keep their big, fat mouths shut next time.  I could go on, but why? I am so disgusted with so many of the citizens of this country. Hey, stand up and call them what they are when they throw it out there. Racists!  Obama\ Biden, 2012 

Clouds-August 2012

 

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Just another shitty day in paradise!

My new, $4 Hibiscus

 

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First Cactus Bloom Announces Itself In Rancho Vistoso

Driving along in Rancho Vistoso today when all of a sudden I whip by this guy. I almost turned around and hurried back but had to make an appointment. Luckily I had to drive right by it on my way out or I would have forgotten about it, which is what I usually do. Drive by it again, oops, whip around and line up with 3 other cars so the owners could get out and take a picture of it. Early and amazing! Nobody else in bloom around the area. It''s going to be a great year for cactus flowers!

 

 

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Bank of America-Principal Reduction-More Hoops to Jump Through

Bank of America-Principal Reduction-More Hoops to Jump Through

You may remember the post I put up about

"Independent Foreclosure Review - PNC Mortgage", it was about a guy who allowed a short sale on his house and what it entailed and how violated he felt when it was all over. Well, here is another angle on the subject. Here is the link to the original post,  http://judibleu.typepad.com/blacklidge/2012/01/independent-foreclosure-review-sample-letter.html

It's a sad tale for you. Long term, it's been in the making since 2006. Remember 2006? Times were good, jobs were abundant and houses were selling like hot cakes. We had a great year and, with the help of a little money we inherited, we jumped back into home ownership. The prices were high, but they had been steadily increasing for several years and we were afraid that they would just keep going up and up. After looking at way too many houses, we found a nice one, affordable for the time and in a nice neighborhood. Our Realtor gave no indication of a hint of a problem in the market. This was a full time, experienced Realtor, she had to have an inkling of the future of Tucson real estate.

Flash forward, jobs not so abundant, things not as good, the whole real estate market is in the tank. The house we spent so much on is now worth more than $100,000 less than we paid for it. To hear some people, "that's tough, you pays your money, you take your chances". "Creepy, low lifes weren't qualified, those damn Democrats were just trying to make everyone into a homeowner". Well, after several years, a lot of people who were just trying to have a home are gone, their houses sit empty and neglected or people (investors, some from China) are buying them for pennies on the dollar.  In some markets, the city governments are tearing these houses down rather than let them clog up the future of everyone else. The banks and mortgage people are okay, though. Whew! That's the main thing, right? They made money, (lots and lots of money), off the original sales, off the bundling of bad loans, off the folks trying and trying to hold onto their homes. And here we are, paying a huge payment, even through months of unemployment, on a house that will never, ever regain its value, no matter how long we pay on it. Not only that, the years that we spend paying on this thing will never be back. The "investment" is nonexistent and we can never regain the possibility of increasing our net worth because of the upside down state we find ourselves in. So, hey, we don't fit into the "low-life, unqualified" group that everyone mentions and yet we are so upside down that it makes no sense to go on paying the payment. We can't do a "short-sale", we actually put way too much down on it and it would be a huge financial disaster and so dehumanizing and sad that we just keep sitting here, waiting for something to happen. We've been through the Modification route. Something new in the American lexicon, a humiliating, frustrating and totally unfair method of getting the payment down some. I've spoken to people who have had their payment reduced by hundreds of dollars but we got about $100 off per month, and there is no rhyme or reason for how they decide and they don't really care if you don't think it was done right. It took months for this small adjustment and about 1,000 phone calls. 

Now comes word from Bank of America that they will be doing Principal Reductions. Other companies have already been doing this; right along with the modification process, but for some reason B of A is just now announcing their intention to do some reductions. I was ready for it; I knew they had to do it, sooner or later. There are 11 million people in the United States with upside down loans and as long as they keep hanging on, the housing market will never recover. So, what's the catch? Of course there is a catch. Wait for it, drum roll..., you had to be 2 months behind on your loan as of last January. What? That's just ridiculous. People who have done everything they can to stay afloat are once again in the position of having to beg, plead and cajole to get anywhere in this mess. Not two months behind going forward, already behind before they made the announcement. Aye, Carumba! Of course, they don't want to make it easy for us, like they did when they sucked us into the house in the first place. Easiest loan I ever got, after owning at least 5 other houses in the past. I guess I'll go plodding along, hoping to hit the right person, on the right day that may want to help me. It makes me tired just thinking of it.

       

Catalina State Park 3-2012

New photo album off to the side! Went on a short hike this morning. Got the camera out and discovered the telephoto lens is sick! Yikes! A fundamental tool for my happiness needs a trip to the photo hospital. Not happy.

The Civil War, Now Showing in America Today

This just in, our country is adrift with divisiveness and bitter feelings. The right hates on the left, the left tries to act like they're not doing the same thing back, but they do. Why is this so surprising after a decade of television, radio and social networks that cannot live without the rhetoric? No longer is "the news", the real news. Oh, sure, you get your occasional traffic accident or robbery but mostly it has been given over to opinion. Loud, obnoxious opinions for the most part. That isn't all of the problem, either, because even if the opinion isn't strong, the volume is cranked up to support whichever side they are supporting. Whole channels have been created to push different points of view at us, on both sides. The right-wingers are the worst, but the Dems do a lot of it, too. I read mostly left wing things and sometimes they get out of hand, (mostly on Facebook). Spoken in the right tone of voice, anything can seem logical, and the lefties really want it to be logical while the right wing, for whatever reason, could care less about logic. The amps have been cranked up so high on most of their stations that hate groups have increased over 700% in the last few years.

Racism is a constant with them and they don't care who knows it. Was this all hidden for the last 50 years and only now are they able to trot it all out for all to see? Make no mistake, the louder and weirder things become, the worse the crowd becomes. There are crazies coming out of the woodwork and although everyone would like to think their friends and their family aren't part of that group, someone is making up the nutball ranks. I know of one elderly relative who was a lifelong Democrat but has recently switched sides. Why? A black president did the trick. The ones who are trying to maintain some facade of normalcy say,"Oh, no! I'm not a racist!". Yet even though the economy is getting better, out health care is getting better and there is a long list of things directly attributed to the current president, these folks can't give him any credit. Would it be the same if Hillary had made it in? Hard to say, but with the attacks on women in every state, on every level going on now, I find it hard to believe that they would like her any more,(well, maybe a little more, she is white, after all). For some reason, these nutballs can't count well enough to know that they are going to loose on every level come voting season and maybe even before that. Sure they get to read their names in the paper when they put these idiotic things up for a vote but is it really going to worth it? Women fought like hell in the 60s and 70s to gain equality and rights that we are not going to give up. There are more women than men in this country and most of the women I know who have strong, supportive men in their lives know that these men will stand for them as well. Fathers,sons, brothers and mates can and will stand with women on the tearing away of our rights. Blaming these attacks on religion or financial things is not working and the Republican guys,(mostly all guys) are so on the wrong track. 

The civil war isn't going away. It's here to stay. Maybe a legitimate third party would be helpful but don't count on the Dems or the Republicans will ever let that happen. So, maybe our society will evolve away from the destructive turn it has taken or maybe we'll all just go up in a ball of flame.

Jerry Hall's Metal Art

Jerry Hall had a yard like no other. Eventually succombing to colon cancer, he continued to decorate his space with more folk art, even during the chemotherapy.There are more than 60 pieces of this incredible metal art on this inner city lot. Hall passed away in October 2010; I drove by the other day to show another visitor the yard-gallery and noticed the house was for sale. That makes me sad. His wife, Chris, had been maintaining the yard but evidently she wants to leave. Hopefully she will find a way to decorate another space with all of her late husband's art. I first saw this yard in 2001 or so and really, this is what made me want to make metal art. It blew me away.

 

The Bees

 Some bees stopped by our house for a nap a few days ago. My husband, who has experience with this through his old job, says the queen grew tired so all of her followers stopped with her to protect her. He said they'd go away when they were ready and so they did, after a couple of days. Because there wasn't a hole in tree, there wasn't much chance of them sticking around and forming a hive. We missed the big fly out but they were pretty cool anyway.

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