Better But Not Perfect

Last night Slinky was out until 9:30 when it got really cold. I had gone to bed at 7:30...wiped out from the fiasco the night before. I let him in and hoped for the best. It was not to be. He barked for an hour and finally I got up and moved his cushion into the garage. He didn't like it at all but it was 40 degrees in the garage. So he should have been fine. He slept until 1:30 AM and then he started barking again. I got up and let him out and while he was out doing his thing, I moved the cushion back into the utility area. When I let him back in, I told him to go to bed. He evidently did not want to go back into the garage so he went to sleep.

I slept until 5:30 and then got up and brushed my teeth, made up my face and dressed. By then, he knew I was up and began whining for his breakfast. I came in and fed him, let him out to do his thing and now he is back in the kitchen while I am making my chili for the lunch following today's Martin Luther King service. I am to do the invocation and also the blessing for the offeratory.

In about an hour, I will meet my brother-in-law for breakfast. Then I will go see Phyllis and come back and dress for the service. It starts at 11:00. I want to take the chili in about 10:30.

This organization I belong to was one my husband, Bob, had an interest in. PINCH stands for People for Institutional and Community Harmony. It's goal is to bring the races here together as friends and to work to insure justice for the black community. They don't always get justice.

Until the big flood of 2007, they segregated themselves mostly on the east side of town where they were more comfortable among their own. The flood caused the homes on the entire east side of town to be bulldozed. They were contaminated, not only with oil, which had escaped from tanks at the refinery nearby, but also with the raw sewage that came down the river to Coffeyville from Independence upstream. The Independence sewage plant was inundated too. So the smell in our entire community was like a huge pig pen. The hospital was full of people who had been exposed to all that bacteria. The refinery and FEMA bought those homes and between FEMA and the refinery, the homes were then destroyed. The residents were then forced to move in among the rest of the community. PINCH was already formed before that situation occured. They helped those folks to assimilate. We lost about a thousand people who moved away or into the countryside after the flood. That showed up in the 2010 census.

I have made friends with about a dozen black people...who by the way...you forget the color of their skins when you become friends. Who cares? We have worked together now trying to bring peace and justice between the races for six or seven years. Once or twice we have had to mediate with the police department on their behalf.

Once a year we have a huge community pot luck dinner. We meet once a month to discuss and make plans for that, plan the Martin Luther King Day festivities and just plain study and fellowship.

By time to leave, I am hoping it will be warm enough to put Slinky out. It's supposed to get up to 48 degrees today. I will be gone for quite awhile. I always help clean up afterward.