Another Year Older And Deeper In Debt

That's what she likes to say on her birthday so I heard it numerous times today.  She was pretty happy because the best gift she could receive would be calls from her family.  She got calls from all three sons, both of her brothers (which is a complete rarity) and a cousin in Buffalo. To top it off, she heard from her best friend, whom she's known since the age of four.  Now, I had to do some finagling to make sure all of those conversations happened, seemingly spontaneously.  But it worked and she was happy.

I went out this morning to find my house (inside and out), yard and car - which was in the garage with the windows open - inundated with almost an inch of fine dust. It's like cement dust.  Here's a link to our local paper explaining a possible cause.  It refers to an area called Las Campañas...that's where I live.  It's horrible.  I tried to clean my kitchen floor and vacuum my newly cleaned carpet.  It's nearly impossible.  I had to scrub my patio and furniture, rinse off the crap from my stone yard, rinse all of my cactus and even point the hose back onto itself because it was caked with the stuff. Even all my bird stuff was wrecked...feeders, water dishes...

I would love to call the responsible company and make them pay to clean my carpets and tile.  It wasn't very healthy for my new granite countertops or cupboards, either.  It's pretty infuriating what some corporations get away with.  It would be nice to breathe.

Damn open pit copper mines. Ever see one?  Here's the  Google satellite map of the area (If you see big blue blobs, click satellite in the bottom left corner). You can see the mine, desert to the east/northeast of it and the lines of houses along the edge of the desert.  I live in one of those houses. Look for a tiny blue flag.    Apparently, the map link doesn't work and the GV News link isn't available outside of the country.  Sorry 'bout that.