Back in Cyberspace

Having trouble concentrating long enough to put fingers to keyboard these days. Work is hectic and E-bay & Amazon sales are zipping right along. A small part time job is becoming a big part time job. The book sales pay off debts, so it's a good thing though it does eat up the evenings.

I'm also still writing a monthly (more or less) column for BookThink. My latest is all about buying teacher and education books. . I'm pretty pleased at how it turned out. It came about after a dismal experience at a Childre's Only Book Sale. The pickings in the Kiddie Lit have been slim these days. Heading up to Austin on Friday for their Mini Monster Sale - I hope it is as good as it was last summer.

No Gays...Update

Some folks have asked if this story is really true- sadly it is, here's a link to the news story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/kprc/20061020/lo_kprc/10124161

And here are the links to Rick Casey's column - he's a writer for the Houston Chronicle, our local very conservative mullet wrapper.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/4277355.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/4274630.html

Wife of Garden Guy sent Mr. Casey an e-mail. She is quoted as saying that it has been a "privileged to see just what happens when you make the homosexuals and the devil mad."

Hummm...I didn't realize the Devil had a e-mail address!

No Gays or Dogs Allowed

Imagine if a hotel posted a sign in their window stating “No Jews Allowed”. Picture what would occur if a restaurant refused to serve African Americans or if a business refused to hire anyone of Hispanic descent. The NAACP, LULAC and the media would be outraged. There would be boycotts, marches, pickets and every politician up for re-election would grandstand in front of every TV camera they could find.

Here in Houston The Garden Guy, a local landscaping firm refuses to work for homosexuals. A gay couple, most impressed by their “before and after” pictures contacted the firm to request a quote. In the context of the conversation, the client referred to his “partner”. Five minutes after hanging up the phone, he found the following e-mail in his in-box “

From: Garden Guy IncDate: October 18, 2006 9:08:36 AM CDT
To: Mjlord@emailaddress.com
Subject: Cancel Appt -Garden Guy

Dear Mr. Lord,
I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad youcontacted us. I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you becausewe choose not to work for homosexuals.

Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs.

All my best,SabrinaTodd and Sabrina Farber
Owners,
Garden Guy, Inc.
visit us at: www.garden-guy.com


The story is getting press here in Houston. Sabrina opted to send an e-mail, rather than make a phone call so her message is also galloping loose in cyberspace and making the rounds of the biosphere.

Mr. Lord hired another firm and the Garden Guys are refusing all requests for interviews.
They did issue a statement saying that as a small business they had the right to pick and choose their clients.

I wonder, since they so firmly believe in the sanctity of marriage if they also refuse to landscape the yards of couples who can marry but choose not to, people who have a divorce or two in their past or couples who married in a temple?

It's Fall, It's Fall, It's Fall!

Fall in Houston lasts all of 2 weekends so we relish it while we can. The leaves don’t turn and there isn’t the smell of wood smoke in the air but we still know it’s fall.

I can go outside without my glasses fogging over.

The windows are open and crisp breeze is blowing through the house.

We had breakfast at an outdoor café.

My Beloved played golf yesterday and didn’t come home red faced and panting.

Everyone on the block is happily doing yard work.

The kitties are frisky.

The Friends of the Library Booksale Season has begun and new inventory is flowing into the house.

There’s a pot of soup on the stove.

We are only taking one shower a day, not 2 or three.

Kroger has replaced the lawn furniture displays with great stacks of firewood for sale. Not that we need it yet but it’s delightful to walk by it and envision a crackling fire in the fireplace.

The wheel of the year is turning yet again.