Summer Dangers: Including Fire, Horrible Politicians and Never Ending Hopeless Situations.

The day before yesterday there was a fire behind my house. I was asleep and when I woke up my home was filled with smoke.

Helicopters flew over and the house shook. Yes, it was that close. I had the cat carriers ready to go. I knew what art to take. I knew what photos to grab.

The fire could have taken out about a dozen other homes before it got to mine. Or the first six houses would have gone and the fire would have exposed to all 53 homes in my subdivision, and then on to hundreds of other homes.

We had a fire break cleared behind our home but there is only so much we can do, especially when humans carelessly cause fires.

I suspect the cause was a homeless camp. That is how most of the fires start along the parkways. Along the parkway fires, murders, attacks all come from the illegal camping by addicted and mentally ill, and just plain bad people who camp everywhere, from downtown all the way out to the suburbs. I’ve talked about that before. Kids can’t roam the trails like they used to. There are also needles and human poop on the trails now. No wonder we don’t see as many wild animals as we used to out on the trails or behind our homes.

My husband has been attacked by homeless people. His business has been broken into. The alarm to his business goes off constantly as they violently rattle the door and bang on the windows. The homeless pee on the streets, jack off right in front of his business, women do tricks on the street no doubt in exchange for drugs, mentally ill men walk around naked, and pass out on sidewalks. It is sad that our society allows people to fall so low. Where were their parents or families? Nobody gave the people on the streets the tools they need to be part of normal society. Or maybe they had the tools but lost them to addiction and mental illness. So everyone else has to deal with it the fifth, the health hazards, the violence, the garbage, the lost business, the loss of parks and sidewalks. The loss of safety. Yes, it is bad. I’ve had a guy jack off in front of me while I was waiting for a light to change. If my husband did that he’d be in jail for years.

Billions of dollars are thrown at the problem but that money goes to ineffective programs, the pockets of so called “advocates” and consultants, and to a paper pushing machine that nobody is watching.

There are more services in my area than others so the homeless, unhoused, and even those who choose this lifestyle, come here from all over. They aren’t local. It isn’t due to housing costs because housing where they come from is much less.

Many/Most homeless people who want help aren’t getting it. They aren’t getting the care, or the services they need. Don’t even get me started on the horrible practice of sending foster kids out in the streets with no support after they age out of the system. Don’t get me started on the predators who prey on kids and lure them into drugs, and sex trades, and a life with no future and only hopelessness. I’m not totally without compassion. Every person has their own story of how they ended up on the street. Some of the stories are so profoundly sad that it would haunt you forever.

My daughter mentioned a young homeless couple where she lives in Southern California. They are clean and nice, and it is just so sad. Why are they on the street? They might have jobs. They might have mental illness, or they might have been foster kids with no support. Nobody knows. It breaks my heart.

Last week I gave a young man, who was in front of the post office some money so he could feed his dog. I thought he was going to start to cry. Why was he out there on his own? Where were his parents? What happened that someone could slide through the cracks and end up alone and homeless, with nothing but a backpack and a dog? Where are the advocates? They’ve failed this young man.

The Mayor of Sacramento does nothing but talk and give his snake smile (sorry snakes for the insult) as he pretends to care. His eyes and empty heart are only full of dreams of higher political office and strokes to his own ego. He has ruined the city he was supposed to be taking care of. Our governor isn’t any better. He lives along the same parkway as I do. He also only cares about his rich friends and higher office and his own ego. He talks as if he cares, but does nothing. Does this sound familiar? Maybe it is the same where you live. Politicians get elected, and yet at every election or choices get narrower and it seems like it is the same club of out of touch extremist and narcissist who run. No qualified sane person can run due to lack of money or just not being in “the club.”

I was going to write about my garden, and my cats, and the plight of folks like me in the heat. It isn’t really a plight – we are lucky to have air conditioning and the means to use it.

So all I have to say now is to check in on those who might not remember to turn on their fans, keep ice in the house, or turn on their air conditioning. Some old people just forget. Check in on those who need extra help, or who are just alone and might need to hear another live voice. Stay cool, wear sunscreen, enjoy the sunflowers and fresh tomatoes, keep your pets inside when it gets too hot. Nobody deserves to be outside when it is 90+ degrees F and wearing a fur coat.

~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman