Apparently the new 3 R’s are Retired, Recovering and Rehabbing.

Since the last post, nothing too spectacular has been happening here in the RGV. The weather is still hot, the wind still blows, and the bod aches less and less. Rehab is coming along as well as expected. I’m walking without a walker, I only use the cane for balance, and I have finished my in-home PT with the infamous ZOD. I still need Vicki’s help with my PT as I’m getting this right leg stronger each day. The incision is a wonderful shade of yellow (which Vicki insists is normal and healing) to which I say “ick”! It’s amazing how there are no stitches or staples on a 6 inch incision, closed only with super glue! The makers of Gorilla glue should give a call, I’ll gladly endorse their product.

I have started to wear a compression sock to hopefully alleviate the swelling in my right foot. Also I try to keep it elevated above my heart, but sometimes its just awkward! When one has a hip replaced, one must have a sense of humor I guess.

Thursday was a joyous, yet painful night. Joyous in a sense that my friend Robert was able to come over a share a football game and testosterone filled evening. He’s a Detroit Lions fan and since they completely kicked the crap out of the Packers, he had an extra good night. I can now commiserate with Bob, the Bears fan after the drubbing put on them early in the month. Football, like karma, always has a way of finding it’s way into your life and humble you as necessary. While Robert and I enjoyed man time, Vicki and Christie escaped into the city of Brownsville and shopped til they dropped. They had an estrogen filled evening which did both of them good for sure.

Did have a bit of excitement yesterday. When Vicki was walking the girls yesterday afternoon, a state trooper lit up was followed by a fire engine also lit up. Vicki came back with the girls and asked if we should get in the golf cart and investigate. Hello! This is a 55+ park, snooping is a requirement!! We’ve had some issues with residents that have involved police, so thought something tragic may have happened to one of our residents. So we got the girls settled and at the speed of three toed sloth, I proceeded to the golf cart and waited for Hoke (aka Vicki) to drive us in the direction of the troopers and firemen. We got to the end of the street, but no EMS! We scanned the property and noticed the golf course dump was ablaze. Yikes. We then saw a brush truck up by our place filling it’s supply tank, so we chatted with the guys and they informed us that there is a complete burn-ban. That being the case, somehow or someone had lit the piles of wood, branches and fronds and they needed to extinguish it. Three hours later, mission accomplished.

Later that evening we went to visit our friends Kat and Jim in the further south forty and to ease our minds, we took the golf cart out to the dump area to make sure there were not smoldering embers which to trigger a rekindle. Saw no twinkling red so we slept easy. Not too much else in terms of our existence to report.

You can stop reading here if you want as I’m going to go on a bit of rant over an incident that happened in Delaware which involves a Delaware state trooper. The trooper has be charged with multiple counts of assault and civil rights charges involving a 15 Y/O boy for playing ding dong ditch. The ding dong ditch was caught on a ring camera and the trooper’s behavior was caught on his body camera. I want to break this down into two separate incidents and throw out my opinion on how each should be handled.

There are life lessons to be learned here on all parties if only we’d apply some common sense to it. The 15 Y/O was acting I’m sure on a dare from his peers and the ring camera had him dead to rights. Instead of acting in rational manner, the state trooper let anger become his guide and abused his power not only as an adult, but as an official of the state. No wonder so many people distrust the police. Behavior like this undoes all the excellent work of our public safety officials. He had the kids image, more than likely he knew him from his neighborhood and if not, checking school photos to identify the offender shouldn’t have been too hard. You a cop for goodness sake! Once that happens, you go, speak with the parents, and together find an appropriate course of action to take together to insure that this type of incident does not happen again. Beating a 15 Y/O is totally inappropriate.

Now to the officer’s action. He has proven that he is not capable of controlling his anger and therefore should not be a police officer. Police are there to protect and to serve, not to distribute justice and punishment. That is up to the courts. I support the police as they have a near impossible task given their numbers, however I also have an increasing fear of police as they appear to be quick to escalate to violence under of the guise of self-protection. If someone breaks the law, it is not a personal affront to a police officer. It is someone who has made a poor choice and must now deal with our justice system known as the courts. Should the courts be more stringent? Probably. Should lawyers be held more accountable? Of course. But its the only system we have for now and we as a society need to take responsibility for not only ourselves but our communities as well. Violence rarely leads to an outcome that leaves all whole.

I’ve personally dealt with a situation similar to this. A family member with friends decided to play mailbox baseball. They were caught by the police and remanded to our custody. So, I called all the mothers of the offenders and had them sit basically a tribunal of these 16- and 17-year-olds. By the time it was over, even the toughest of them all was in tears. Mothers are incredibly powerful!!! It was decided that the conspirators would be transported by at least one mother, walk up to the house of the offended party and then face them, offer to repair or replace the damage they caused to make them whole. They definitely learned a life lesson and believe me, that action spread through their school like wildfire. Also, I believe there was a did in minor incidents. Instead of flying off the handle, calm prevailed and justice was truly served. After the incident, the police were amazed at what was done. This should be the standard, not the exception.

Social media is certainly making this even more challenging, but if everyone does their part, maybe, just maybe we’ll live in a better world. But that’s just one man’s thoughts.

Bottom line to all of this though, we’re still loving retirement!