Weather in the Tries: IF, and that is both an operative word and a very large word, but IF my phone is correct, it will not get down to 32 this coming week. The lowest will be 33 all the way up to 36, and the days will mostly be in the 50s. With three days of sunshine on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday!!!
Maybe next year I’ll auction my shadow off—if I get more money to see my shadow and have 6 more weeks for the skiers to ski, or if the most money comes from the summer people… And all money will go to charity. What do you think? Should I auction my shadow off to the highest bidders???
An odd week, this: This past week has been a bit odd. I got a couple more books read and have about decided that Lois McMaster Bujold gets one more chance to worm her way back into my Kindle. What? You may be wondering did this fantastically marvelous SF/F writer do to upset me? Well, grab a cuppa, Bunky, ‘cause I’ll tell you.
Housemate Dan got me hooked on her Vorkosigan Series. There are 16 books in the series. The first two I read got me into the characters, who darn well should have been in the next few books, if not all. Well, in Book 2, she killed one of my favorite, okay, my favorite, supporting character. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that when you get stuck you kill off your darlings. Well, dammit, he was MY darling, and I’m not telling you who it was. Then, in Book 4, which I finished yesterday, NOT EVEN A MENTION of the series people. Not even a wee mention in passing of anyone in the series. Okay, I admit, book 4 was okay, but it was a real let down, because I expected someone to show up and recruit the kids.
All the books are stand alone, so I will try #5 and see what happens.
Photos of the Week: I was lying down with the Brave Dog the other day—something he demands at least once a day—and while I was reading, he was under the blanket until he got too warm then he squirmed until he was playing people in the bed. And, no, his nose isn’t sore, it’s the way his tongue cleans it, and the light in the room.
We also had snow the other day. Not much, but enough that the Brave Dog, the Big Chihuahua, said, “Walk? In that stuff? Not just no, but uh-uh, not me no!” Sometimes he really hates it when his people is bigger than he is, and had other ideas.
from the desk of the big chihuahua: my human says there should be no snow this next week, and we are scheduled to have three days of sunshine. that does, of course, mean there is nothing wrong with her phone weather forecast. sunshine! oh, this desert dog is soooo happy.
Sunny Day Quotes: “Even on a cloudy day, the sun is shining somewhere.” –@WillingToTakeActions
my human says if it’s cloudy you only have to go up thirty-five thousand feet. all you need is a big extension ladder. I don’t know how many feet that is, i’ve got four and she has two, and i’ve never seen an extension ladder, don’t know what it is.
Weather Forecast for the Tries: Gonna dip into the high 29-low30s for the next few nights. Probably until the horny hare makes his appearance next spring. The days will all be in the 40s. The rattlesnakes, and others, are by now either in a ball underground hibernating, or on a heat rock in some kids bedroom. Hope his mom is okay with that. We’ll have a flake or two of god’s dandruff, and more than a few hours of his tears. Otherwise, it will just be overcast. There is a possibility, regardless of how slight, it’s still a possibility, we’ll have measurable white stuff for the Solstice and or Christmas. The Pass (Snoqualmie) is getting lots of snow as I write this on Saturday.
It’s so good to be back: No, I haven’t gone anywhere. Our internet provider did. Or at least the wire that leads from the junction box to our apartment did. We lost service Friday night, had it intermittingly Saturday, and Sunday until about 6 in the evening, and then it left for good. The tech was here yesterday for about an hour, in the afternoon, and got it reinstated. By then I had two zooms and….
It’s amazing how much we use our computers. It’s also pretty amazing (to me, anyhow) how quiet it was without them. Housemate Dan and I share an office, and we’re both pretty good about using headphone so our computers don’t compete, but we’re both guilty of reacting, verbally, to what we watch. With nothing to watch, we were quiet. It lasted 5 minutes beyond our reinstatement, and then he was growling and I was howling.
I’m not big on podcasts, but methinks that’s about to change. When I first discovered MSNBC years ago, I started watching because of Keith Olbermann. I liked his style, but I really liked how on Fridays, he would read us a James Thurber story. He told us about his dad, and how he always read a Thurber story to him. And then he (Keith) was gone, moved somewhere else. When I found him, I couldn’t get the station he was on, so I watched his replacement. Well, the other day, I was listening to some news on YouTube, probably Glen Kirschner, and was in the other room, sewing, when his show was over and the old theme song for Countdown, Keith Olbermann’s old show, and I’ll be hornswoggled, he has a new (to me) show on YouTube. It’s a podcast, but it’s interesting.
Countdown was on last night as I had a few minutes between zoom meetings, and it didn’t take long before I was howling with laughter. Especially the story about meeting Mr. & Mrs. Carlton. And I agree with the Mrs. that I don’t care much for sports but she and her husband watching him every night and thoroughly enjoyed his show. Oh, Mrs. Carlton was a Brit, and that is the name he heard, not the name she gave, and by the time he was through with the story (it comes toward the end of the show) I was almost falling off my chair as I laughed.
Photo of the Week: This is from last August, the Brave Dog was in our office sleeping on the floor. Doesn’t he look brave? I’ll have you know he hasn’t run from a single Zombie Leaf this season. He actually stomps on them and raises his hind leg! He’s showing them who the Big Chuhuahua is! Grrrrowl!!
From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua: It looks like the Weather Human finally listened to my human and sent the rain away. My human said we got rain because Seattle got a pineapple express, and some of the clouds made it over the mountains and we got leftovers. I usually like leftovers, but not leftover rain. I don’t like rain at all, it’s wet. Wet only belongs in my water dish! But my human tries to keep the rain away, and I love her for it.
Weather in the Tries: I have a new electric blanket. Not sure who loves it more—Sammy or me! He does sleep on top much of the night, but he starts out snuggled to me. Oh, you want the weather? ‘Scuse me. It’s mostly going to be in the high 40s and low 50s. With the lows from 31 to 46. In other words, good sleepin’ weather.
Do Humans Hibernate? In a word, no. Our ancestors from way back when, may have but there really isn’t any evolutionary reason why we should. There’s a very interesting article on human hibernation here. All quotes in this post are from the article.
Hibernation, or prolonged torpor are not, as of yet, beneficial for humans for several reasons, including:
Isn’t conducive to reproduction.
If we aren’t reproducing, competitor species are.
If your snoozing in deep torpor, you can’t defend yourself.
But since I’ve retired, I’ve noticed something. I live slightly south and somewhat east of Seattle. We are above the 45thParallel. Once the Fall Equinox passes, our nights get longer, our days get shorter. Noticeably. Not like Canada and Alaska. The closer you live to the equator, the more your days and nights are likely to be about 12 hours light, 12 hours dark. When I lived in Florida, as I recall it was 11/13 then when we went to Daylight savings time it was about 12/12. Or maybe the reverse. I’m old. So is my memory. I have blackout curtains in my bedroom and keep my bedroom as dark as possible. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that need to be plugged in, and they throw out a mild amount of light, but not enough to disrupt my sleep. So, I get very little light coming in from outside.
In the summer, I get about two hours less sleep than I do in the winter. Around the Fall and Spring Equinoxes, my sleep adjusts about an hour. I go to bed at the same time most nights, and turn my light off about the same time each night. But still I get about 2 hours more sleep at night in the winter than in the summer, in a blacked out room. I know I’m an old fartess, perhaps I’m closer to my ancestors than I thought? Oh, I don’t open my windows in the summer, either. The wind blows the blackout curtains and lets the light in,.
But–what if we could hibernate? Possible torpor/hibernation may increase our resilience during transplant surgery, with some additional medical uses, but what grabbed me was the possible uses in space exploration:
“cut down on the use of life support and other resources
ease psychological concerns associated with long-term space flight”
Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that pose problems in people coming out of torpor. Apparently it isn’t just as simple as waking up from a long nap. Possible problems include “blood clots, bleeding, infections, and fatty liver & liver failure.”
But, it seems I’m off to a start. Wonder if I can volunteer for their study….Be paid to sleep…..
Photo of the Week: Yes, the snowflakes were about the size of a silver dollar. The snow lasted a couple hours then disappeared.
From the Paws of the Desert Chihuahua: My human made me go out this morning IN THE RAIN! We live in a desert, why is it raining? Water belongs in a dish, not outside falling on humans and dogs and ducks. Shouldn’t fall on cats, either. Doesn’t she know I dislike rain? It’s cold and painful when it hits my furs. I don’t have any fat like other dogs do. But I sure like her new blanket.
Trust me when I say that Fall has Fell. Leaves are yellow and all over the ground, but so far, none have resurrected to zombie statehood. Days are much cooler, nights even more so. Love it! Days will be in the high 60s to mid 70s. Nights mostly in the high 40s to mid 50s. Not coat weather yet, but a sweater or light jacket isn’t amiss, especially with the sun goes down.
Happiness is:
I found a photo the other day I don’t remember taking, but it is now one of my wallpapers. It was taken about a year ago when I was with Thomas. Sheryl and I were obviously talking, and one of us said something and she looks like she just said a word she never, ever says, and Thomas looks at her as if to say, You said That??? What a funny disgusted shocked expression on his face. I look it it during the day and can’t help but chuckle. It certainly helps the grief go away. He must have been getting ready for a shave with the towel around him. Sent it to Sheryl, and she can’t remember what we were talking about, either. Anyhow, enjoy.
Not Happiness is:
Sammy Brave Dog was sick for about three days, and I couldn’t get him in to see his regular doctor, and the office suggested if he was really sick, to take him to an urgent care. Huh? Urgent care for animals? Well, I looked them up, and they exist, and are just down the road maybe a mile. He’d been dancing the green apple two step for 3 days, maybe a tad more, so they called his regular doctor and got his chart sent over, and we decided it was a good time to update a few things. They have him a fluid injection, drew blood and tested him for the regular stuff as well as some things like pancreatitis (he free of that), and sent us home with a fecal collection kit. Well, I guess he didn’t like all the poking and prodding, and indignities heaped upon him, because he didn’t do anything until this morning. It was normal. I took the sample in, and he has nothing wrong with him. So, I’m to continue giving him some stuff and not worry about the antibiotics.
The worst thing is, Housemate Dan can no longer give him Costco Chicken with Sammy’s dinner. Both he and Sammy love that, but the Doctor said NO more people food, except for sweet spud or pumpkin. But he can give him sweet spud with his dinner, and Sammy really loves sweet spud.
Deathcare:
I am quite confused in my poor little mind as to what we learned through A Sacred Passing on Mon & Wed night, v. what we learned during the first four of five Buddhist classes on Death, Love, Wisdom Summit classes. Worth getting up at 0530 to be at the computer by 0600. I’ve got pages of notes I want to transcribe and put in my notebook. Tomorrow (Monday, so I guess it’s today) is the final class, which I think will be heavy on meditation, but that’s okay. So far the classes have been on Making Peace With Death, End of Life Care, Right here With You: Care at the Time of Death, and Grief and Bereavement Support. All good stuff.
Our pond with a few of the none zombie leaves.
From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua:
My tummy wasn’t feeling very good and my human took me to a new doctor. She poked me, but was pretty nice, and ran some tests which was funny because she didn’t run at all. She walked. Anyhow, I no longer get chicken. Housemate Dan and I are both sad about that, BUT I get all the sweet potato or pumpkin I want. Well, the doctor said something about 4 cubic inches a day, but that sounds like a lot to me. And my tummy feels much, much better now.
An open, shallow, usually round container used especially for holding liquids. Or smoke, if it’s the lower Columbia Basin.
Weather in the Tries: I dunno, it’s too smokey to see in the future.
Yes, we here in the Columbia Basin are getting smoke from the fires in Canada and Washington to the north, Washington and Idaho to the east, Oregon to the south, and Washington to the west. And, be a basin, we gather all the smoke we can, and keep it. According to the EPA, our air is currently Very Unhealthy at 261AQI. (Remember, I am writing this on Sunday. Our air tomorrow, which is now today when you read this, is forecast to be some better.)
But, I gotta tell you a funny. Well, it’s funny, but sad in a way, too. As you know, have you ever been to visit, we have some pretty good-sized wind turbines up on the hill. A friend who is on a Neighborhood app said that someone wrote in and asked who to contact to turn the giant white fans on to blow our smoke away. Oh, yeah, great idea. The problem is, the fans are powered by the wind, they don’t produce it. The sad thing is, this guy was serious. He truly believes the fans create the wind because he’s noticed when the turn them on about 20 minutes or so later, it gets breezy here in the Tries.
We probably ought to get used to this, especially if DuhSantis gets elected, because he wants to make the whole US as ignorant as he’s making Florida kids. It may be too late. Apparently, they are already among us. Maybe DuhSantis will choose Crazy Cousin Sarah as his running mate? Oh, excuse me, I need to go wash my mouth out…
I do sorta feel like I’m back in the pandemic—I need to mask up to take the Big Chihuahua out for a walk, and he doesn’t like the smell, so we’re doing short walks. I woke yesterday after a night of coughs, and Housemate Dan (who never closes his window) woke this morning coughing so all our doors and windows are closed for the duration.
My friends in SoCal are already having power outages, and winds. The news says there are about 10,200 homeless in the San Diego area. I imagine the homeless population that will be affected by Hilary is pretty high. I hope they are all in higher areas, and not at the lowest points. It has to be scary enough surviving on the street, in blue tarp shelters, without the high winds and threat of flooding.
Some of the things I miss about Florida (besides the cicadas and ‘gators) are the tropical storms. I loved the rains. Of course, my house was high enough I wasn’t concerned about flooding, and the dirt/soil was made by all those little organisms to quickly train the water. Where there was a lot of concrete, well, that would flood. Sometimes, my swimming pool would gain 4-6 inches in the length of a good rain. I really loved how the rains would come in, say ‘Howdy’, then skedaddle on to the neighbors. I would stand at my dining room doors and watch the lightning. As much as I loved to watch it, I hated it when it hit—people lost a lot of electronics, etc. when it hit, or hit near, their homes. Sometimes, they’d lose the entire house if a fire started. That took some of my enjoyment away. But I still love a good thunder/lightning storm, if only there was no damage. I’d enjoy a good ‘cane, too, if there was no damage. Old Ma Nature is no dainty, prissy, demure gal to be trifled with! If we’re gonna mess up her domain, why should she be kind to us and ours?
The Big Chihuahua says he doesn’t want to move to Florida. He doesn’t like rain, thunder, lightning, or riding in a car. So, I guess I’m staying here. He further states he doesn’t understand my liking of ‘gators—he’s sure they’re overrated. And he does not want to eat one (which is fine by me—the less he eats, the more there is for me!)
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.
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!
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.
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.
