When I was 69

Saturday, August 22, 2026

Gary INDIANA urgent pleas

" Listen my neighbors In Woods Park subdivision from 48 to 51st street right off Cleveland in Gary , In are not only in a black out the county came through and put sewer system and grinder pumps in the day before the storms never hooking them up to the electric boxes so they are using buckets , and lining their toilets with bags going poop and throwing out. Can’t flush toilets no running water, and nobody’s is rushing to help them! Please send help yards are flooded with feces! There’s elderly, small children please help." Deb Guzman, 8.21.26 on FB

Deb Guzman

Thousands of residents in Gary, Indiana are entering a 10th day without electricity after floods from severe thunderstorms battered the region. Full restoration isn't expected until next week in a city where a third of residents live below the poverty line, forcing many to choose between spoiled food and unpaid hotel bills.

From newsletter: Five Minute Daily fiveminutedaily@mail.fiveminutedaily.com

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First, there’s a major crisis in Northwest Indiana right now, particularly in Gary, where the predominantly Black population has been without power for ten days due to damage inflicted by a derecho on August 11. They’ve been hit incredibly hard. I’ve seen a couple of posts on social media saying the power is starting to come back on but I haven’t seen that corroborated by any news organizations so I’m not sure we can trust it. Even if the power does come back on today, a tremendous amount of damage has already been done. The community is suffering horribly.

If you have any money to spare I’ve done a bit of research and found a place, the Legacy Foundation, that is raising money for so Gary residents can eat, replace damaged goods, buy water (many of them are on wells, which require electricity to pump), and more. The donation page is here.

For more information on this slow-rolling catastrophe and why White Supremacy made it worse you can watch my video here. Sharing it is anther way to help!

From Jess Craven's Chop Wood/Carry Water, Aug 21, 2026.

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WCK is responding in Gary, Indiana, where thousands of residents have been without power for over a week. On August 11, a storm whipped through the state, damaging power lines and roads. WCK and our local partners are working to serve meals to families without access to food. 

Read More: https://wck.org/news/gary-in-power-outage/... #ChefsForIndiana

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All the spiritual paths converge at this point, where people are suffering, where little news is covering it...do we do something to help our neighbors now? I remember close to 2 years ago when Hurricane Helene hit unexpectedly in the western North Carolina mountains. No cell service. No water. No electricity for days.

Having a dolly

I assume that's a dolly on the little girl's lap...there are two distinct feet hanging out to the right. This was Sepia Saturday's prompt this week. Some weeks I manage to find something of a similar theme.

Another little girl is seated with her own dolly. Mum is carting a lot of dried dung, which is the source of heat and cooking when there are no trees around.

That was what stood out to me while travelling across the small part of the huge southwest of the US a few weeks ago. How did early families (indigenous or immigrants) manage to cook? Heat would have also been of help, but daily there would have been the need for food that was edible. We humans can't exist on grass...or sage, or cactus stuffs.

A message to all the immigrants in the US

Family with their covered wagon. Kansas, 1908 USA History site - since mum is holding a child (who looks quite big) is that another one, or a dolly, with the girl on the crate? My vote is a child, since big lifesize dollies probably didn't exist at that time and place.

Nebraska Prairie Settlement era of 1886 to early 1900s Solomon D. Butcher. Here the house is made of some kind of bricks, with a bit of wood showing for doors...as well as a couple of chairs, maybe the windmill, and perhaps the sheds in the background. The bricks don't seem to be in too great a shape where there's a board across the top of the wall...perhaps they never were fired and were disintegrating. Again it comes down to fuel sources.

A bountiful Christmas with three dollies. It could have been my house in the 40s or 50s, except the popcorn string was not put on the tree in a perfect enough manner. How many children do you think these toys were for?

Tomorrow is my 84th birth anniversary. Mmm, wonder what a 85th year will bring my way. The last year sure has been a humdinger! Great word. I've gladly settled into a new apartment, and started exploring the new neighborhood.

My cooling has been covered by the co-op electric company, (waiting for first bill!) and the gas heat and hot water are provided by the management of the apartment building. So far I've had nice hot showers whenever I wanted, until I wrote that, and had warm water for two straight days!

Dolls still exist in my life. Not baby-dolls though. Little stuffies, which I've kept around, and shared before.

Friday, August 21, 2026

The Rogers Neighborhood here

With my being Ms Rogers, I am claiming the area I live in as my neighborhood.

Potted flowers at the entrance to the apartment building.

I sat outside with neighbors talking before the noon sun hit the west side of the building the other day. Then everyone scoots indoors.

Sitting here by the entrance.

I was issued a key fob to let me through the locked door, and during the day, the landlady can let in deliveries in who buzz her office. I also got a key fob for my son and his wife to use, otherwise I'd have to go down to the lobby to let them in.

And looking the other way I see the studio apartment building across the parking lot. The cute little covered sitting area at the end of the cars is the smoking area. I asked a neighbor if they are allowed to smoke pot, but she thought not. I've not lived in a state where it's legal before, so don't know the rules.

And Wednesday I found out my next-door neighbor's apartment is being emptied out by the management...she must have died fairly recently because my son said someone was knocking loudly on her door when we were moving all my stuff in just 3 weeks ago last Monday, (July 27th). (Come to think of it, it could have been Meals on Wheels, because they often will require a response.)

I would imagine if she had had any relatives they would have been clearing out the apartment. But the manager and maintenance man were carting boxes and lots of grocery carts full of her stuff downstairs, putting a lot of things like shoes, audio tapes, kitchen wares on the "free table" in the lobby. The residents were like vultures actually...very friendly but a bit unpleasant to be around.

So I soon won't be the newest tenant.

Of course I am sorry I never to meet my former next-door-neighbor. It is sad to think how many people in senior living places like this might die. (How did I get into this apartment anyway?) It brings home to me the situation of a blogger who I didn't even know, who is suddenly in Hospice care...and so many bloggers are writing comments to Joanne and her daughter. I am touched by all the outpouring of care from many of the bloggers I know.

Which reminds me that one of the neighbors mentioned that Monday someone's things were all put out by the curb as they had been evicted. Glad I missed that episode of "grab what you want."

Recycling belongings makes sense though.

I'll pass. I thought of asking the manager if there was a dresser that might be purchased, but decided I'd go through thrift stores to obtain one, and actually am leaning toward getting something new. I'm delighting in not having too much that is left from the "people before me." The apartment itself has a sense that someone cared for some areas more than others. I could show you the awful corroded kitchen sink, where someone used some powerful acid that left the stainless steel completely stained.

The maintenance man said he'd tried everything to scrub it clean. I just purchased a dish pan...not going to put my dishes on that surface! Of course I've tried everything I have except steel wool by now.

There are scrubby bushes by the parking lot, and a few trees around as well. Hogback Ridge and Heron's Peak are huge grey hunks of rock to look at. I imagine they'll be dramatic in snow.

Can I add that meaningful connections seem to happen here on blogs. Thanks folks!

Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos and Skywatch Friday

Thursday, August 20, 2026

My life on the fourth floor

Fourth floor lobby between elevators and two directions of halls.

The last door in this direction is a trash chute, for small items.

My door is the other direction, the second to last on this hallway. It's surprisingly quiet, and I've only met a few of the other tenants who live on this floor.

It was fun for Bing to post this photo as a screen saver the other day!

The view from my desk. I'm kind of struck each morning as the sun blasts its reflection into the windows, which can be blinding compared to the best efforts of my monitor. This was taken a few minutes after the one at dawn on Aug. 15, which I used as a header. I'll share it here too because when I change headers, it's lost from blog archives. Soon I close the vertical blinds with just a crack for fresh air to come in. The Storytime shot says "I've never met the devil (yet) but I imagine it's a pretty scary experience. but then again I guess that's the point."

Dawn at 7:01 Aug 15 with sun hitting the tip of the smokestack of the Powerhouse...apparently a science museum now. This is my header for this week.

Saw smokestack dawn again on Aug 17 at 7:03 am.

The 8 am train (came by around 8:25 Saturday) and I didn't bother to close the windows. I noticed when the engineer toots the whistle, it emits white smoke, but there are definitely puffs of black coming out that engine. If I start noticing anything sooty in the apartment, I'll probably change my attitude.

Pardon the screens giving the flickering images...but I'm just so thrilled still to actually wake up to see these views each day.

Yes, I'm very happy here.

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Tuesday night I woke up at 2:30 am and opened the windows...it was definitely cooler outside than in. And for the first time I stood at the window and saw the stars. I had to block the city lights below me, and there they were. Very nice indeed.