3048 Madness in a weed

Monday, August 9, 2010

Short story - "She lies. He lies. They lay."

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Becs has identified the strange plant in the previous post as Datura, jimson weed (a.k.a. loco weed (not the same as locoweed), Jamestown weed, devil's weed, mad seed), in a comment. She nailed it.

According to the Peterson field guide, "All parts of this plant are extremely poisonous." There are no animals or insects that eat it. It causes overheating, raised blood pressure, visual problems that can last for weeks, delirium, and a bunch of other bad stuff. There is no antidote. It is fatal if you don't know exactly what you're doing with it.

Wow. The Hairless Hunk doesn't want me to move away, but I didn't think he'd poison me to stop me! Actually, he did mention that his son gets a rash if he touches it. He has a passel of little kids, so I'll alert him to destroy the plants in his yard, and not by burning - the smoke is also hallucinogenic, and not in a good way. Even sniffing the scent of the flowers can cause mild symptoms --- which might help to explain some odd reactions the other evening, when the first blossoms opened.

I think I'll keep my plants, they're safe from munching, but I'll be careful about not touching or sniffing, and I'll snip the flower heads before they set seeds.

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It's been a rough year.

The economy is so bad that I got a predeclined credit card in the mail. If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you have to call them and ask if they mean you or them.

McDonald's is selling the "1/4 ouncer". I ordered a burger and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"

CEO's are now playing miniature golf. Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM. Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting. The Mafia is laying off judges. BP Oil laid off 25 congressmen. Parents in Beverly Hills and Malibu are firing their nannies and learning their children's names. A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .

Congress looked into the Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 billion disappear was investigated by the people who made $1.5 trillion disappear !

Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

You know things are bad when I'm thinking about selling clothes from my closet instead of buying more. I've been living on my (tiny, because I retired early) monthly retirement check, the monthly SS widow's stipend (slightly higher than the retirement check), and quarterly interest and dividends from investments. But I've been selling off investments to buy the car and the NJ house, and ACK!, that means lowered interest and dividends, at least until I can sell this house.

I'm feeling it. Not in the same way as some others, but yeah. The balance on my credit cards is scary.
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