Category Archives: Auntie Lenora

A Bit on Politics Written in the Font of Snark

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Weather in the Tries:  We may get rain today, Monday. 50% chance. Our high will be 68, but by Sunday it will be up to 80 with sunshine every day from Tuesday on. Lows will be in the high 40s, low 50s. Perfect sleeping weather.

A Bit on Politics Written in the Font of Snark:

Today is Thursday, 28 Sep 23, and Washington DC is gearing up for a Government Shutdown. I have a possible solution: Don’t pay Congress during the shutdown! Odd, isn’t it, that the Pro-Lifers who want all abortion stopped no matter the reason, won’t put limits on gun ownership, or fund families and single mothers who need assistance so they can feed and clothe their children, let alone afford the burial when one (or more) of their children die from prevented trauma. You know, like malnutrition, starvation, lead poisoning from an AR 15, lack of medical care.

And our Military? Oh, why in the world would they want, let alone need, to be paid? After all, they can eat in the chow halls and sleep in the barracks. But, what about their dependents? Yes, I know, if the Military had wanted them to have dependents, dependents would have been issued at the end of Basic/Boot Training. 

I really hope by the time Monday rolls around, and CBE is published, the shut-down has been avoided. But then I remember I stopped believing in miracles years ago.

And the old farts and fartesses on Social Security? Actually, as I understand it, we continue to be paid as it is mandated by law and financed through a payroll tax. But mothers with young children will be hurt by the Pro-Life Party Shutdown.  

Alright! This is too freaking much! As of today, Friday, FAT BEAR WEEK is in jeopardy! Yes, If Washington gridlock pushes the country into a government shutdown on Saturday, the Fat Bears will be furloughed, as well as the Park Rangers. Fat Bears are considerably more important than a few tantrum-throwing-juvenile-Congressmen! Feed tantrum-throwing-juvenile-Congressmen to the Bears!!! (Make sure those juvies have no communicable diseases first.) Save Fat Bears!!!! What? What did you ask? You don’t know about Fat Bears? Oh, you are merely ignorant, and that’s treatable, unlike stupid which cannot be treated. The stupid diagnosis belongs to tantrum-throwing-juvenile-Congressmen. To include Sen Tuberville!

Saturday night:

Well, goodness gracious sakes alive! There were enough young adults in Congress to pass a short-term funding bill with bi partisan support. Unfortunately, no additional funding for Ukraine. Young adults  don’t understand all that much about freedom and democracy, yet, and think Papa Putin really likes them. But 45 days is better than no days to get them some learning. And Fat Bear Week goes on….!!!

Doula:

I did watch An Honest Death: A Palliative Care Doctor’s Final Days. The Dr. had a terminal prognosis, and asked NHK (Japanese News Service) to film his final days. The movie is less than an hour, and very interesting. There was a part in the middle where there was no sound, but there were subtitles to read. The Dr. and his wife were both end of life doctors, and he was a Buddhist Priest. I didn’t cry near as much in this one as I did in It’s My Party. There is something in the Buddhist philosophy that brings about peaceful deaths, an acceptance, though he did want and received Continuous Deep Sedation –sleep state, usually done when the patient has less than 2 weeks to live and is in severe pain. The person passes away in their sleep.

We discussed what movies we watched over and over and over that were about death. I think my favorite is Departures. A Japanese film. And, yes, I still watch The NeverEnding Story. I cry in both of these movies. And in this series, Navillera. It’s a 12-episode Korean series about a 70-year-old man who retires and wants to learn to dance ballet. (I also cry during some commercials, but that’s another story.) And there are two songs that make me cry—Ed Ames (or anyone else) singing Who Will Answer and Bette Midler singing Wind Beneath My Wings. We all need something that will bring forth tears on demand, preferably under our control. Sometimes a good cry is just what the doctor ordered, but it’s difficult to cry on cue. 

Speaking of the Buddhist thoughts on Death, a friend sent me some information for Death, Love & Wisdom Summit, A Free Online Event October 12-16. You can read about it, and sign up if you’re interested, at https://tinyurl.com/bdf68n4k. The classes will last a total of around 3 hrs a day as I understand it. Maybe more if there are longer meditations.

Photos from the past, some claw and fang of Nature:

Two of my favorite photos from road trips. The Coyote was taken in Yellowstone NP, we’re pretty sure she was a she with cubs up on the hill. She came up the hill from the river to stop by the road to let us go first. We stopped, rolled down the window, and I took this picture. As soon as we drove on, she quickly crossed the road and went up the hill. If you look, you can see blood from her kill that morning on her fur. I gave a framed copy to Patricia Briggs, author of the Mercy Thompson Hauptmann books of weres, vampires, and other assorted shapeshifters.

The alligator was in Florida. I don’t want to get snuggly close to one, but they look so happy, like they just got the joke! And the reason they are so far away is because Sammy Brave Dog, aka The Big Chihuahua, keeps them there. Or at least out of our pond! Isn’t he a good dog?

From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua:

Does my human have any idea how BIG the mouth and teeth are on both of those critters? And she expects me to keep the ‘gator out of our pond??? Well, so far, but if that guy ever comes for a visit, I’m leaving. Keeping the Hippopotamuses out of the parking slots is bad enough. But she thinks I do it, and she’s proud of me, so please don’t tell her otherwise. Okay? I love this fall weather, except for the zombie leaves, but so far they aren’t around much. Maybe the wind is keeping them away? Yes?

Marie Osmond Talks About Dada Sound Poetry, a 2:37 video that is gobs of fun. And perhaps something to think about for opening your front door the last night of October 😉

“Teacher means “to be born before”.” ~quote from An Honest Death.

And, if I can remember how to upload a tape, I will have three new poems in Spoken Word. I have the World’s BESTEST computer Guru for this blog! She is patient, knowledgeable, and a good friend!!

Delightful Trip to the Dark Side

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Weather in the Tries: 

Our warmest day will be Tuesday at 75, with our coolest day on Thu of 68. And our lows will be in the 50s with Sat going down to 46. Yes, I’ve put my fleece sheets on the bed, and a real blanket along with one summer quilt. Soon will come the for real quilt I made for Thomas, but it was too heavy for him to use.

Delightful Trip to the Dark Side:

Had a delightful trip over to the Dark Side, where I spent a few days with Sheryl. I wondered how hard it would be to return to where EBOC Thomas lived the last years of his life and died there. He wasn’t there, and Sheryl said he hasn’t been back that she’s aware of, which makes me feel/think that if there is life after life, he’s off on his adventure, which is exactly where he should be. He doesn’t need to come back here to haunt people;-) though it would be nice if he’d show up for drink and a gab fest and tell us all about it.

As my Uncle Carl lay dying, he had a conversation with his long-deceased father. I sat by U. Carl’s bed, heard his said of the conversation, then there would be a pause, then he’d talk some more. When he was through I asked how the conversation went and he informed me it was good. I asked what Grandpa had to say, “Oh, he said, ‘Mbgliscuescf’ and then he said, ‘gblxdtvw’.” Yeah, well, so much for hearing from the other side of that veil.

Thanks for letting me know you don’t get the annoying pop up asking you to subscribe to my blog. Of course, I’d really like it if you did, but it’s okay if you don’t.

Doula: 

female slave. And that’s really what a Death Doula is, a slave to the dying person and his/her friends and family. We are there to help any way they would like that we can do. There are ways we can’t help as mandated by law. There are some cultures who do not want the bones that survived cremation, pounded into small pieces. But the law in this state says that all bones must be mashed and pulverized. 

Week 2 was the end of the ‘introduction’ and this week coming will be diving into the good stuff. The Death part. Part of the homework was to watch a couple of movies. I’ve finished one, “It’s My Party”—a movie to watch if you want to cry. Goes back to the days of AIDS. My first tears came at 4:23—credits were still rolling. Sheesh. Then again at 20:34, 26:07, 1:05:24, and then at 1:26:27 I started in and couldn’t stop until the movie was over. It’s a beautiful movie, with a lot of lough out loud moments and can be found on YouTube. It’s not all tears. But a beautiful love story. I did volunteer work with people living (though at that time, it was really dying, but we were so damn optimistic) with AIDS. I am so grateful that today it is a chronic illness and controllable.

I haven’t watched the other movie, yet, An Honest Death: A Palliative Care Doctor’s Final Days. The Dr. helped a lot of people, and then came down with cancer, and asked for his final days to be photographed. He was also a Buddhist Priest. It’s short and very interesting. I didn’t cry.

Only one photo today. Took it on the Dark Side and it was so overcast none of the flowers on the hydrangea bush had turned their face to the sun. And all the flower bunches only had blooms around the outer ring. Obviously, Fall is arriving.

From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua:  

Mom says she’ll type as I talk because she doesn’t like all the paw and nails clicking on her keyboard. She also doesn’t like me sitting so close to her coffee. The ghost of her old cat, Tashiko, had come to me shortly after I moved in with Mom, and taught me how to move Mom’s coffee cup. “It’s a game she really likes to play,” she said. Of course, I quickly realized Mom doesn’t like that game, but Tash really enjoyed the prank. I know Mom misses Tash, and I wish she’d come back and play with me, but she doesn’t even come to visit anymore. Says it makes Mom cry. And she’s right. But Mom snuggles with me, now, and I’m a dog and everyone knows dogs are better than cats. Right? Right? 

“Grief and Joy are always holding hands.” –Sandy Yannone

The Jury That Wasn’t

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Weather in the Tries: 

Yep, we’re still getting it. Our high today (Sunday) was 90, tomorrow will be 83, then down to the 70s and one 68 for the next week. Next Monday, temps will once again begin a climb into the 80s, but for a week, I might even want a sweater early in the morning.  (The lows will be in the low 50s for the week)

The Jury That Wasn’t:

After calling the broken phone all weekend and hoping for a miraculous fix, I got up early on Monday, dressed, fed the Big Chihuahua, and took him for a walk, then drove over to the Courthouse. Went thru Security, found where I was supposed to go, and sat on a bench and waited. I was, are you surprised?, early. But I wasn’t the only one who’d never been there, nor was I the only one waiting, there were 4 or 5 of us. Sondra opened up her cashier window and was very helpful. She looked it up online, and there were no jury trials scheduled for this week. I came home and found the same message. Now, why couldn’t I have found it earlier? Oh, well, I now know where the court is, and where to park, and where to go. The people who work there that I dealt with were very polite in telling me where to go.

THERE ARE NO JURY TRIALS SCHEDULED FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

NO JURORS ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT ON

 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2023  

I admit, I was kind of looking forward to it, I’ve been on a grand jury, but never seated for a petit jury. Oh, well…

Today is Tuesday. Last night was my first class in Deathcare. I must admit, I’m really eager for the rest of the classes. The class is very diverse—in all ways I can think of—race, LGBTQ+, age, Trans, and even neurodivergent (of which I am one. Truly, dyslexics are considered neurodivergent. Who knew?). Very interesting people, and many of us learn in different ways, and all that is being covered.  It’s gonna be a fascinating class, filled with fascinating people—a whole new family to adopt. And you know how Auntie Lenora likes to adopt people into her family!!!

And today is Thursday. Second class in Deathcare was last night. We did a guided meditation that was truly good. We all reacted differently to it. But we all loved it. It’s been a long time since I’ve done meditation of that sort. I remember when I retired, I had two goals—to meditate and to write. I was meditating three times a day, and often for an hour each time. I was so mellow it affected my writing in a very negative way—conflict? What the world and my writing needed was love. Sigh. I brought it up in my meditation group and they suggested I make my writing my meditation, and that’s basically what I’ve done since. So, in a way, my writing is also a guided meditation, but guided by me or my muse, not someone else. Last night’s was really interesting—we were taken back to the womb (too cramped for this old claustrophobe) and all the way to our death (very interesting, I’ve done this exercise before, but this time I had a totally different experience. An epiphany, if you will), can hardly wait until the next time which I believe will be our last week. This class is going to be great. Thank you, Friend Danna for recommending I attend A Sacred Passing for my training. 

Okay, now, I have a question for all of you. This class is 8 weeks long, do you want to hear about it in future posts? In more detail? Less detail? Not at all? Please let me know. There are no wrong answers, but I realize there are people out there who don’t want to learn about death and death care. And one of them may be you.

Now it’s Saturday and I remembered one of the items from the forever lost post I couldn’t put up last week. I subscribe to another blog that is also on Word Press and the last two weeks or so, every time I call it up on my browser (I never read in email as I miss too much), I get an annoying pop-up that wants me to subscribe. I even re-subscribed, but it still pops up. When you open Coffee Break Escapes in your browser, do you get the same annoying pop up? If so, please let me know either by email or in the comments.  Thank you.

These were taken in 2008. I have no idea what happened in the top picture. I must have had it on a slow speed and moved the camera? But I think it’s still a good picture.

These three were taken during a full moon, I think it might have been a Harvest moon, or possibly a super moon.

All of these were taken down by the Columbia River, the top two at the cable bridge, the bottom two at the blue bridge.

From the Paws of the Brave Dog:

I found this on Facebook and told Mom she ought to use it. I don’t like Facebook much, not enough Dogs. We need our own media. Dogface! Dogs of the universe, unite!!

Don’t use a big word when a singularly unloquacious and diminutive linguistic expression will satisfactorily accomplish the contemporary necessity. ~Facebook meme

Color Me Embarrassed!

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Well, this is embarrassing and somewhat frustrating. I lost the post I spent the last few days working on. I am for sure positive I saved it, alas, I don’t have a clue where, and I’ve searched everywhere I can think of to find it.

I know! I’ll blame Sammy. He frequently steals my coffee cup and hides it, perhaps he’s now stealing my documents! 

Oh well, it probably wasn’t that exciting anyhow.

I received my summons for Jury Duty. I was excused the first week. Today marks the second week. The answering machine on their end keeps saying “An application error. Goodbye.” and hangs up. Tried to see if I was listed on the web page, and I’m not, but I’m not sure if those are the numbers of the called or not, so I’ll get up tomorrow (I’m writing this Sunday night) morning and get dressed for jury duty and drive over to verify.

At any rate, I’ll be home by 6pm, when I will log into a zoom room, and begin my class of 8 weeks (Mon & Wed) to become a Death Doula. Or Death Midwife, if you prefer. From what all I can find, I will be the only one in the Tri Cities. I will probably work with the two hospices we have, as well as work on my own. I’m not sure how all that will work out, but I don’t think I want to charge. I figure people and their families who are dying have enough to worry about without one more bill. And I’m comfortable without the extra work of bills/invoices/books/numbers. Especially numbers!

The classes I will be taking are from A Sacred Passing–https://asacredpassing.org. I really like their philosophy, but going back to school at my age? Starting a new life at my age? Well, I guess it’s to happen, eh? If I put it off another year, I’ll be a whole year older and still have to work with the kids in the class 😉 

Took these photos the other day. They are of the main area, the one fountain is granite, and the other, behind it, is a pipe with some kind of holes in the cap. I took the pix in color, but they look much more dramatic in b/w, yes?

Sammy Brave Dog says it’s no fair having Housemate Dan and Mommy talk to each other. When they don’t talk, sometimes he can get a whole extra dinner! Which is why now we coordinate meals for the Big Chihuahua so he doesn’t get bigger in the wrong dimension!

Have a good week, and remember, wherever you go, there you are! ~Jon Kabat-Zinn

Happy Labor Day to You All!

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Weather in the Tries: We will have mostly sunny days, with the highs ranging from 79 to 87. The good news is, it is cooling, and the last couple of mornings, on the early walk with the Big Chihuahua, it actually felt a bit like Fall is knocking at our door.

The bad news is, when Fall falls, so do the dried zombie leaves who attack small dogs to eat puppy brains. 

I dated a guy back a few years, and at lunch one day, he asked me what my favorite season is. I had to think on that a minute or two, and then I answered, “Whatever season I’m in.” Too much of a good thing isn’t all that great—but I do, truly, like all the seasons. And think it marvelous that I live someplace where I get all four of them!

I have finished my chapbook, Saying Goodbye to Thomas. I had planned on waiting a bit to do that, but one of the publishers I wanted to send it to was closing the door to submissions, so…

A great big Humongous Thank You to those of you who read or are still reading. I can make changes/corrections and or additions to it right up until the contract is signed.

A follow-up on last week’s introduction to the OP’s mug shot. There have been several bits seen or heard here and there, that the Sheriff of Fulton County needs money, lots of it. AND FULTON COUNTY OWNS THE MUG SHOT OF THE OP! I wonder if Fani Willis will add a new charge to the indictment—infringing on copyright. I wonder if the County can claim all the money already raked in from the sale of the merch? As well as what comes in later? Stay tuned. It ought to get even more interesting.

I received my Jury Summons a couple weeks ago. Called the jury hotline and I get to stay home this week. Need to call in on Friday to determine about next week. I’ve been called four or five times, but never seated on a petite jury. One time, a week after receiving my summons I got a registered letter from the County telling me to disregard the earlier summons that I was on the next Grand Jury! That was fun. We didn’t have to decide the guilt or innocence, just let the DA know whether he had enough ham for the sandwich.

I am feeling better, I’m submitting work. Wrote a funny poem about my pup and submitted it to a contest. Sent a funny 200 word short story to a magazine, and have submitted Saying Goodbye to Thomas to two possible markets, and have written a third market. The third one is not open to unsolicited manuscripts, but they published one of Thomas’s books, so I thought they might be interested in at least reading mine. We’ll see. 

Speaking of Labor Day, my stepmother went into labor and had my sister on Labor Day. Not this labor day, one a few years back 😉

And I take my first Death Doula class on September 11th. How’s that for irony? Every Mon & Wed, for 2.5 hours for 8 weeks. That’s one of my many gifts from Thomas. A way to help others. A doula is a midwife. I imagine we’re all familiar with the Birth Doulas, well, I want to help people at the end of their life. Help them, and their families to have/witness a good death. 

Here are two photos I took while with Thomas. The black and white one is of a hazel tree. I wrote a poem about it raining even when it wasn’t. The flicker at the suet feeder was quite the ham. She (Thomas said she was a she) seemed to enjoy posing for Thomas. Have way too many shots of the suet feeder and birds and squirrels arguing over it. The suet feeder was right outside Thomas’s window. The Hazel tree was at the edge of the lawn, also out his window.

Have a marvelous week. The Brave Dog says to eat your Wheaties so you can help defend small dogs everywhere from the soon to be expected invasion of dried zombie leaves that love to attack and devour puppy brains. Sammy says puppies need their brains so they can protect their humans. Wait. What?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Auntie Lenora Presents: The Toddler in Chief!

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Weather in the Tries: We had a moderately cool week. All temps were double digit! However, today, Monday, is on the schedule to be 102, and then a week of mostly low 80s. There will be one dip into high 70s. After our couple of days of nearly unbreathable smoke-filled days, we’ve gone back to Good or Moderate Air Quality. 

What an odd week has just gone by. And yet one more reminder I’m still grieving. I was late for an appointment. I’d written down it was at 10:15, which was correct. However, every time I looked at it, I saw 10:45. I always get to those appointments early, and I was there at 10:30, and they marked me as ‘missed’ and I couldn’t be worked in later in the morning. To say I was confused would be to word it mildly. 

A couple days later my Grief Group met, and when I told them, they smiled knowingly, and the Facilitator told me about Grief Brain. Apparently, it’s a thing, and Boy Howdy! did I have a case of it. Then I got to thinking, took two aspirin, and realized it’s not yet three months since he died.

Fortunately, there was a great show on the telly Thursday night that took my mind off things for a while. Like many people, I watched what there was to see of the arrest and booking of the OP. And then the county released his mug shot and I had one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while. Not that the arrest and booking of a President is funny—it isn’t, it’s really a sad commentary on us—but the shot is priceless. Reminds me of when my kids were toddlers and if  told to do something they didn’t want to do. “NO! I DON’T WANNA AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!!!

I DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT! IT’S THE ONLY WAY I CAN STAY OUT OF JAIL AND I AM YOUR RETRIBUTION! (I’m not at all sure what that means, really. I don’t need retribution for anything. Do you?)

How sad for him. He wants to look threatening and strong and will never surrender (though he did surrender, was arrested, booked, and released on bond!) and he looks like a petulant toddler throwing a temper tantrum. I’m surprised he hasn’t taken the old Don’t Tread on Me! rattlesnake and photoshopped his mug to that.

Since I have a genuine photo of the Hot Line to Jesus, I’ll post it, in case the OP needs it. Or anyone else. I know the photo is genuine, because I took it, I did not swipe it off the web 😉

Actually, the sign was in the mall where I used to walk in the winter. It was in the food court where they were installing a new pizza place, and Jesus was the general manager, and was looking for a few good workers. I apologize for the ugly crossing out of the area code, but it is, or at least was, a working number and I couldn’t figure out how to change any of them to a fictional number.

The book, Saying Goodbye to Thomas is coming along very nicely. There are 28 poems in it. There were 27, but I took a poetry workshop on Saturday, and wrote one more. The book (sans the new poem) is out to several people who asked to read it. I hope to have everyone’s comments back in a couple of weeks so I can wind it up and start sending it out. Sheryl has sent me some very nice photos of Thomas, his niece has given permission to use one her mother, his sister, took several years ago, I have one taken during the toast before the Final Cocktail where he’s happy and smiling. I now have seven shots of Thomas, I hope I can get them arranged on the page like I want. And a possible couple more coming from a friend in Arkansas.

And, I have submitted his novelette to a publisher. Fingers crossed.

The Big Chihuahua is liking this cooler weather a lot. Still warm enough for a Desert Dog, but not so hot he melts. He still dives under the summer quilt on my bed at night, but before long he’s topside. At least until about 4a.m. when he gets cool.

Another Weather PSA

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Weather in the Tries: HOT! WE HAVE AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING UNTIL 11:00 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 17. All triple digit days, with the remainder of the days in the high 90s, which, due to all the buildings and concrete, etc, are often higher than at the airports where temperatures are normally taken.

No, I’m not seeking sympathy, I know many of you have it hotter, and with more humidity, I’m using the temps as PSAs to help you plan/not plan your trip to the Tries. 😉 And isn’t it nice to know Climate Change is a hoax????/snort/bwahahahahaha/

This just came into my email, thought you’d all like it.

I think Saying Goodbye to Thomas is basically done. It is out to a few readers who will go through it, tell me where it’s broke so I can fix it, and maybe re-order the poems so they make more sense. Once I get it all prettified, and fixed, it heads out to publishers. Sending it out now, keeps me from fiddling with it. By sending it out to readers, I am, essentially, putting it on a shelf and forgetting it for a couple of weeks. at the moment it has 27 or 28 poems and including all the frontis & backis pages, is 44 pages long.

The below was written by Good Friend John. He has friends and family all over the world, or at least the western hemisphere, studied Russian in college, and lived in the Russia House where they only spoke Russian (if my memory serves), and when he sent me the paragraph, I asked permission to share with you. 

“Unrelated in a way, but in a way, not:  I saw a comment by one of the Russia-Ukraine analysts that he asked a Russian opposite number, who he has known for years, if there was anything, anything at all, that would bring Russians out on the street en masse, from the Baltic to the Bering Straits, and despite the police reaction, given that the Ukraine invasion has not. He replied immediately: Abortion. If the regime prohibited abortion, the reaction would be immediate, not only in the big cities, but even in the Muslim areas, even in the most machista parts of the nation. A Russian might beat his wife, but he stands for her right to an abortion. The Russian sociologist (if that’s what he was), said that he, himself, can’t really explain the degree of feeling on the matter.” 

I am quite surprised that abortion is allowed in Russia, given the “religiosity” of Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church. I wonder if the OP knows that? Bet he doesn’t. For surely, if he knew his hero allowed it, he would not be so proud for killing Roe v. Wade.

Y’all stay cool. Read books. Stay hydrated. And remember, the Wednesday special at The Pub is wings! Bone in or bone out, and lots of sauces from which to choose. I wonder if they have vanilla ice cream. I bet a black beer and vanilla ice cream would make a bang-up float!

I don’t remember if someone sent this one to me, or if I swiped it from Facebook, but I’ve kept it for years and when I need a good laugh, it’s usually the first thing I go to. For years I kept it on my desktop so I wouldn’t have to look for it.

The Kiffness

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Weather in the Tries: We actually had a wee bit of rain today! As well as heat. Humid. Blech!!! Still, we’re in the upper 80s and lower 90s, at least for another week when it goes triple digit again.

I’ve started to put my chapbook together—Saying Goodbye to Thomas—and that’s what I’ve mostly been concentrating on. I hope you’ll like it when it comes out some day, some year?? All the royalties will be divided between the ALS Association and Death with Dignity. So plan on buying a few copies, okay?

Do you know ‘The Kiffness’? He has a real name (David Scott), and is from/in South Africa. He loves making music with animals, especially cats. Please check him out. It’s too hot to think, and too hot to do anything else, we might as well have some fun, yes???

Top 10 cat songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8gz3u–8A

African song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_yn8mJOU8

Meowzart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwBblOuy-kw

Take on Me (with a bird): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7acmKtL6og

Okay, that’s it. You want more, you can find them on the telly, uh, ‘puter.

As far as DuhSantis goes, I went all week and managed not to think much about him. Too interested in the latest indictment of the OP. We do live in interesting times, yes?

Okay, one more: Cucumba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xa7Dp3-eYA  

Y’all stay cool, stay outa trouble, and have a great week. Alright, if you can’t stay out of trouble, at least don’t get caught!

Sammy Brave Dog says he’s ready for some cooler weather. He wants to snuggle in the night and he does, then he gets way too hot. Not to mention his melting human;-)

Looked outside as it was beginning to get dark, and saw this rock in our pond. It didn’t look right (it was darker than the camera shows), oddly what I could see were the feet. So I took her picture. Don’t know if she spent the night there or not, but she blended quite will the rocks behind her even though they appear white and she dark.

Weather and…

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So I thought I’d forgotten to shift the PM to AM when I scheduled the publication of todays exciting adventure. Nope. The computer nicely says it missed the publication, but doesn’t tell me why. Grrrrrrrrr

Weather in the Tries: Wowsa!! A whole week coming up with no triple digit days in sight! Alas, a week of 90+ but they ain’t gonna be triple digit days!!! We takes our cool where we can find it, yes?

For you folks in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, &c, you have my most sincere sympathies. Maybe get the whitest white paint made and paint your homes? It might help. Use color in the trim if you need color.

Read the other day where if we were able to stop Climate Change now, we will not cool down in our lifetimes or anytime soon, but we can stop the heat climb. If we want to. In other words, if we stop it right now, this is gonna be as good as it gets. And if we don’t stop it, it’s just gonna get hotter. That’s the crux of the problem, eh? We don’t really want to. We want others to do it, but don’t want to take responsibility ourselves because we’re too good, too rich, too obnoxious?! The countries who contribute the least to the Change, suffer the most. Island nations in Southeast are already under water. Bangladesh, is learning how to grow food on floating gardens. Countries with low-lying coastal areas are already losing ground. When I lived in Florida, my house was built on top of a hill with a 27-foot elevation. I think I’d have been okay as long as I had a boat and could out-paddle the resident ‘gators. 

And the higher the temps, the smaller the food crops and production. Coral is already bleaching in Florida, when the coral dies, the reef will die, the fish will migrate toward more habitable waters. Sharks will follow, and when they can’t find enough fish, they’ll go for people. ‘Gators will go for dogs, cats, people, whatever they can catch, kill, and eat. And don’t get me started on my beloved salmon and bears! 

And check out this magazine. Hakai. It’s free.

It’s kind of nice having a housemate who is a progressive. Slowly, we are cutting down on our use of plastics. I am back to using bar soap, and bar shampoo, and when my conditioner is gone, I’ll use bar conditioner. I wish someone would come up with a solid dish soap. Wait, what did I say? I asked the Duck(DuckGo) and I’ll be hornswaggled, The Earthling Co., has a solid dish soap. Non-toxic ingredients. 

Housemate is much better than I in one aspect, he buys ALL his books as electronic ones. I’m still on my paper books for nonfiction and poetry, and if the electronic version of fiction is more than $4.99, I’ll buy a used paper copy for less. I think Amazon &c should be honest, we are only renting books from them, not actually buying the electronic ones. We can’t loan them to friends, although some we can loan ONCE to one person. We can’t give them to our children when we die, unless they want to keep our accounts open. A lot of people check electronic books out from their libraries, but publishers are fighting that, too. They are cutting down on the affordable number of licenses libraries can buy.

Are the authors getting higher royalties when their books are electronic? No. Does it cost the publisher more money? No. In fact, they get more, because once the book is formatted, it’s done. It’s uploaded and forgotten, except the spreadsheet that comes however often from the seller. And they go bwahahahahaha all the way to the bank.

Also, trees are a renewable resource. In fact, we have some planted “forests” (orchards?) not too far from us where some kind of trees are planted and harvested by machine. I believe they are trees for paper. And I think it takes 4 years from plant the trees to harvest. Still, I try to use less paper. I’m afraid I’m failing. I also really like the feel and smell of books. Those tries might be for fence posts with the leftovers going to paper. It’s all used, somehow.

I watched the ducks the other day, when it was really, really hot (triple digit hot) and kinda wished I was a duck, and could go swimming and dabbling in the pond, and then I remembered what all is in that pond and decided a cool shower would make a whole lotta more better sense

So, DuhSantis is strangling the educational system in Florida, Abbot in Texas, and probably all the southern red states will follow suit, as well as a few of the northern ones. What will happen to the kids? Will they have to go to Prager U or Tammy Fey U in order to get a college education? I mean, seriously, do you think Hahvahd will take any of those kids? Or any of the other ivy league schools? And when they graduate and go hunting for jobs??? And those grand old southern schools of higher learning? What’s going to happen to them when-out-of-staters no longer want to apply? Sure, The Crimson Tide is a great football school, and so far a pretty good U. Will Southern Universities start giving local boys from the South preferred acceptance? Will that affect their good standing? Their income? Will they ever recover?

If you have any children in Florida or anywhere else where books are being censored, please, mail them some age-appropriate real books. Or send them an eReader and buy them some real books. Consider
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexei, 
We Had Our Reasons–Poems by Ricardo Ruiz and Other Hard-Working Mexicans from Eastern Washington, 
Wizard of the Pigeons a novel by Meghan Lindholm, and 
Caste: the Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. 
Read these books first, so you can discuss them with your far away child. Don’t forget books by Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, Dee Brown, Vine Deloria, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Kathleen Alcala, Isabel Allende, and so many others. Give them a well-rounded reading. 

I have left LGBTQ+ category of books off, because I haven’t read that many—and that’s not to say there aren’t Two-Spirit authors mentioned above. I don’t know, nor do I care. I’ve read some LGBTQ+ books, and thoroughly enjoyed them. The best I’ve read lately is This Way Out by Tufayel Ahmed. I laughed, I cried, and I recommended it to all my friends, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a great book to show that odd as it seems, they’re just people, too. Oh, yeah, I cheered by the time I got to the end.

If my book suggestions don’t tickle your interest, check with your local librarians, they are the keepers of all knowledge 😉 And they love nothing more than to share that knowledge with readers.

Okay, your assignment, should you choose to accept, is to see that short people you know in book-censored states have access to good books to give them a more or less well-rounded look at the world in which they will live. This blog will not self-destruct in five seconds.

Sammy doesn’t understand the last paragraph. What can I say? He’s a dog. But he’s much happier with new, lower temperatures. It’s still too warm for him to snuggle all night long, but I often feel a little paw touching me somewhere. He sends pupkisses. As long as they come a while after he’s eaten, they are pretty nice to get. We all wish you a fantastical week!

Speaking of books, I have two more reviews posted at Rainy Day Reads.

What is Going On in Florida?

4 Replies

Weather in the Tries: No triple digits in sight on my phones 10-day forecast. Friday was 103, so just for grins, I bought a cold weather fleece hoody because I know just as surely as Johnny Appleseed invented little green apples, it’s gonna be cold this winter! My gal pal and former travel partner lives just outside of Las Vegas. It’s considerably hotter there. The same day it was 103 here, she had 115 and at 8.30 that night it had cooled to 105.

Years ago, when I worked for a living, one of the Engineers I supported was from the Middle East and he told me about an underground city in the desert. That it was a beautiful city, cool, had water and fountains, but was underground. The desert above it was too hot for comfort. Coober Pedy in Australia is also underground. If we don’t want to change our ways, I think a lot of us are going to have to think of going underground, and figuring out how to grow our food, etc. There are also salt mines that have become underground towns/cities or at least tourist sites.

Vancouver BC has quite a large mall underground. I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to visit (I’m claustrophobic), but it was like going into any large mall topside. It was actually quite pleasant, and there were several places with large skylights for natural lighting. Or there weren’t, we just kept coming around to the same ones from different angles?? Actually, Canada has several such malls, etc., in their larger cities. Or so I’ve been told.

My understanding is that being underground is a pretty fair way of maintaining a constant temperature, I suppose it varies on the location of the city—altitude, type of rock, etc. But I don’t know. I’m truly claustrophobic, and spelunking has never held my interest long enough to try it. I’m okay, until I get to the entrance hole, then I change my mind.

Okay, on to Florida!

What is going on down there? I lived there when JEB was governor, and he certainly didn’t try any of the stuff DuhSantis is doing! I understand a lot of construction isn’t being completed because a lot of the workers left. They no longer feel welcome. Well, duh! Some were undocumented, some were documented, but members of their family weren’t. Pretty soon, the housecleaning staff at the major hotels will be sorely missed, too, when the snow birds fly south for the winter. And now they are rewriting history that slavery taught the slaves usable skills? Was good for them? Reminds me of people I knew when I was a kid that didn’t understand why the slaves even wanted their freedom. After all, they were clothed, fed, had homes in which to live and raise their families, why, they never had it so good! They didn’t believe the history books. They just didn’t believe no one would be as mean, as cruel, as Massa was.

A few years ago, Alabama tried basically the same thing, except the history re-write. The Mexicans (all Spanish speakers are Mexican to them) were taking jobs from decent white boys. The state went after all the “Mexicans,” and you know what? There was nobody to pick the harvest when it was ready. Those “decent white boys” surely didn’t want to stoop and pick cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. That’s back-breaking work. And they sure enough weren’t going to pick cotton, but I think that’s mechanical now. Not sure about then. Anyhow, when the harvest rotted in the fields, and those hard-working decent white boys weren’t interested in hard work, but hardly work, the new law was repealed, or at least forgotten, and eventually, the pickers returned. 

Florida is already experiencing the same thing. A lot of their crops are not being picked. Too many crops, too few pickers. 

I think I’d really rather talk about living underground, claustrophobe that I am. I think I could live in Coober Pedy. Not sure I’d want to live in a salt mine, think my food would always taste salty. Salty Caramel might be okay, but salty flan? Although it would be beautiful, I’d rather look for opals in Coober Pedy. There are other underground malls in Canada. Wonder if they have underground hotels, homes, apartments, etc.?

Helsinki has a vast network of almost 10 million square metres of underground spaces and tunnels. Watch the video, it’s fascinating, and up to date. They can hold 150% of current population of Helsinki, and though meant for bunkers/survival, many of the spaces are used today for running, indoor sports, etc.

And now, I’m up, have coffee, and realized it’s Monday and this isn’t yet posted. Sigh. Eventually, I’ll get back to being normal. Or maybe I’ll develop a new normal just for me. Patience, Grasshopper! What will come, will come.

Have a fantastical week. Do good things for others and yourself. Stay cool. Smile. Hard to think depressive thoughts when you’re smiling. Besides, it makes other people what you’re up to.

The Big Chihuahua says he’s ready for some cooler weather for a while. Not a lot cooler, but cool enough the parking lot where he walks isn’t quite so hot. I agree with him.