I spent a couple hours working with my raised beds today. I ran string between stakes to make a lattice for my peas. I have stakes for the beans, but I didn't bother putting up the string, since the beans are not beginning to 'vine' and wrap themselves around things yet. I planted chives and an oregano. I pinched off the bottom leaves of the tomatoes. Everything looks hopeful.
A lady was redoing her flower beds and had a load of lemon drops to give away, and I love them, so I said I'd take a shovel full. Long story short, we got to talking (you may not noticed, but I'm a bit of a blabber), and it turns out she also takes care of ferals, getting them neutered and trying to find homes for them. On top of everything else, she's just made the decision to get a knee replacement, and was most interested to talk to me about it.
Tim was supposed to pick up my lemon drops since she lives close to his church. Bless her heart. I got so many lemon drops. I also got spiderwort, some kind of lily that she can't quite remember, and a bag of bulbs dug up that certainly were something. (Oooh...I love surprises!) They all went into my rag bag flower garden. At some point, I am hoping that it becomes lush and green with flowers for all seasons. But, realistically, this will not happen over night.
Today, I painted trim boards. We are finishing up the trim on the bedrooms, and putting on bedroom doors. Tim has been working hard. We've got family coming and a lot to be done in 3 weeks. It won't be done, of course, but we are hoping that we will have it settled enough that everyone can be there, instead of here in town.
I'd like to begin filling the new house with memories, but it will work out the way that it is meant to work out.
Probably a year ago, someone posted a house for sale on Facebook. Since it was a place I recognized, I was interested in reading about it. Something I noticed right away is that the picture showed the whole house. It was a duplex, and 1/2 the house is occupied. The description made it sound as if the house was a single family dwelling, and that the picture was what the buyer was getting. It wasn't.
The first thing that I noticed was that they were attempting to attract people who could not get traditional financing. They did the financing. In fact they insisted that they do the financing. They didn't accept a bank mortgages. They said that they were trying to help people who struggled, whose credit might not be good enough to qualify for a mortgage.
In other words, they were targeting desperate people.
The other thing that I noticed is this. The house is very run down. Part of the purchase agreement was that the "buyer" needed to sign a paper agreeing to do repairs on a scheduled basis in addition to paying that 'low, low house payment'. (Spoiler: it was not a low payment. While I cannot remember what it was, it was every bit as high as paying rent.)
What made me sick was this: the sheer number of people wanting to know more about this. Scores of comments.
I put my own comment on it. I said, "Do NOT enter into an agreement with these people. Basically, this is a very run down house, and they are looking for other people to do the renovations for them. Not only that, they make you sign a time line of the repairs to be done, and make it clear that if you do not keep up with their time line, you will lose the house. I will bet money that the intention here is to get their house fixed up at no cost. I will also bet money that anyone entering into an agreement with this company will never own that house. This is a very unethical situation. Before you sign anything, you need to take the paperwork to a lawyer."
Of course the people "selling" this house were upset about this. They launched into me saying that they had been in the business of "helping people move into home ownership" for many years. I looked up their business license and called BS on that. It was a relatively new company.
They tried to tell me that I did not know how buying a house works. (HA!) I told them that we'd been buying and selling houses since 2008 and I knew exactly how it worked. I also said, "Okay. if this is on the up and up, I want to buy your house. I won't need to finance through you. We will purchase in cash."
I waited. No response.
"Proof of funds available." Again, no response.
So I posted the name of our lawyer and his phone number. I urged people to refuse to sign anything without having a lawyer look the paperwork over, pointing out that no lawyer would say that it was a good idea to pour money into fixing up a house that was not even in your name and wouldn't be in your name for many years.
I was blocked. But I kept an eye on that duplex and saw that after a few months, they found someone to move in.
I've been doing a lot of walking, all over town. I really try to get in at least two miles a day. Last weekend, I had Tim drop me off on the west end of town and I walked home. I walked by that house, and I saw a young couple with two small children loading up a shabby truck and a U-haul trailer.
I had so many questions. But I talked to the children who were playing on the sidewalk, and kept on going.
We got up early and went to Eastern States to buy the rest of the trim boards. We saw a couple with a 5 foot roll of 'bubble wrap', a product that goes under a tin roof. They were trying to stuff it into a Kia. It was not working.
We stopped and tried to help them, but there was just no way that it was going to go. I said, "Where do you need this to go?" and the man said ruefully, "Corry."
I said, "We're going to Corry..."
The man asked where we lived in Corry.
I said, "We don't, but we need to go through Corry to get our load to Grand Valley."
Tim said, "Yeah. We can haul it for you. We'll have room."
The guy said, "Really? Do you know where Gigi's is?" It made me laugh because that's Tim's favorite diner. "Yes," I said. We sure do know where Gigi's is."
Tim and he hauled the roll over to our truck and slid it under the tonneau cover. I waited with his wife, who was the tiniest bit cross. "I TOLD him it wouldn't fit in the car. I wanted him to bring the truck but nooooooo..." We commismerated about stubborn men, and she said, "Do you know -------- -------? He lives in Grand Valley." Could have knocked me over with a feather. He is a distant cousin. She said, "My sister was his mother." I said, "Well, my maternal grandmother was his father's sister." Just made me laugh.
Anyways, while we waited, Tim showed me the siding he wanted. It's not what I would have chosen, but you know what? At this point, I'm tired of debating every last little thing. I just want to get this done. I told him it didn't matter to me.
We met our new friends in the parking lot of the diner. He had just pulled in, so the timing was perfect. While we were there, since it was shortly after noon, Tim decided that we should have lunch. The man does not miss a chance to have one of those big hamburgers.
We got some more trim up in the last bedroom, but it started to rain, so we had to haul the saw back inside. The rain is making the raised beds look nice, and I just can't get over how quickly pumpkin vines grow. Every day, there are more blossoms on the tomatoes, and that makes me happy too.
One of the things that we got today was the pulldown steps to the attic. Normally you would put them in before finishing the ceilings, but the thing is that if the inspector had seen that, we'd have had to put electric lights in the attic. We didn't want to do that, because we have windows going in on each end for ventilation and light. So...when the inspector started in on everything we needed to do to meet the standards for an attic, we simply decided to stop talking about the attic. The inspection is complete, and now we'll put those stairs and windows in.
To reduce the dust from that job, Tim wanted to have the bedroom door on. We can tarp the room, and shut the door while we work, and hopefully the dust will stay in that room instead of settling all over the house. Of course, we don't have bedroom doors yet, so that was something else we needed to take care of. We made a run to Lowe's when we were done and picked out the doors we liked. Then, I walked around the corner and saw two special order doors that had been returned and were now on clearance. I called Tim around, and he liked them just fine, and so, for about half the price of just one door we wanted, we got the two doors. They are primed and ready to be painted.
I didn't walk today. It's rainy and I didn't feel like getting caught in it.
A sad thing happened Saturday. A young man with a new sports car was horsing around. He hit another car at a high rate of speed. Both vehicles hit a bridge and burst into flames. Both drivers were killed and the girl friend was life flighted to Pittsburgh. The road had been closed for hours while they cleaned up the scene. We passed over the bridge 4 times today, and it is a bit shocking to see the blackened concrete and the damage and to remember that on a beautiful June day, in the blink of an eye, two lives were lost.
Our hero, John Fetterman, with his thoughts on the Big Beautiful Bill. Start it at 37 seconds. Glad that he's got his priorities straight.
That's all I have to say. The news gets worse by the day.
Well...except that Bryan Kohberger has decided to plead guilty to four counts of murder in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table.
We have a neighbor. He drinks too much. Has a tendency to pee in the side yard because he's too lazy to do the stairs to use his facilities. He is a trump-er tried and true. After the last election, he began to yell from his porch every time he saw us. "What do you think of tRUMP now?" or "HAHAHHAAA! tRUMP won, how do you like that??" So four years ago, I stopped dead in my tracks and said, "Listen. We have been neighbors for quite a few years. This crap is going to stop. You will stop yelling about your politics. We don't want to hear it."
I stood right there and fixed him with a look.
He said, in a quiet voice, "I can do that."
I said, "Good," and continued up the driveway. And that was that.
The intervening years have been pretty quiet. He is paranoid as heck. Has cameras watching the street in front of the house. He owns one old car. One old truck. A trailer. 3 motorcycles, takes up all the parking in front of his building, and he is paranoid about his stuff. He thinks everyone is out to get his stuff.
He's riled up about something. He's been glaring and being mad and giving us the bird. We went out to dinner a couple weeks ago. My sister said, "What's wrong with your neighbor? Why is he flipping us off?"
"*sigh* It's what he does."
Tim trimmed the bushes at the end of our driveway. They blocked his view when he was trying to back out of the driveway. Part of them were over the line. He trimmed our side. Dan-the-man was pretty upset. We ignored him. He escalated the glaring and the flipping off and swearing at us when we came and went.
Today, he blew a fit. We had thrown his grill cover on the ground and it had cost him big money and by god, we were going to give him that money. Tim got mad. "We did NOT throw your grill cover on the ground..." but just that quick he was ranting about his bushes. He said something about his trailer, which for the record, we never touched either.
And it just made me mad. I was shrieking like a fish wife, loud enough for it to be heard up and down the street. "WE DID NOT THROW YOUR GRILL COVER ON THE GROUND!!!! WE HAD A PRETTY BAD STORM ROLL THROUGH LAST NIGHT. YOU EVER THINK THAT MAYBE IT BLEW OFF IN THE WIND?"
He looked a little shocked.
But I roared on: "AND BEFORE YOU SAY ONE WORD ABOUT THE FUCKING BUSHES, THEY ARE NOT YOUR BUSHES! YOU ARE A TENANT. YOU DON'T OWN THE HOUSE! YOU DON'T OWN THE BUSHES!"
He waved his arm with his cigarette. "I know it," he said.
"SO SHUT UP ABOUT THEM!"
And I wound up with, "AND WHILE WE'RE TALKING, YOU NEED TO TAKE YOUR DRUNK ASS UPSTAIRS TO WHEN YOU NEED TO PEE. I'M ABOUT SICK OF SEEING THAT. GOT ANYTHING ELSE FOR ME? NO? THEN KEEP YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH SHUT. JUST SHUT UP, BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE OF YOUR MESS."
I had my appointment with the surgeon today. The questionaire you had to fill out: omgeeeeeee, it was the most ridiculous thing ever.
The first part was about my mental health:
Have you felt despair? (Shoot. Any person with a modicum of sense has looked around at the chaos and felt some despair.)
Have you ever felt hopeless? (See above)
Do you feel sad sometimes? (see above...)
There was no way to answer the question in your own words. You had to tick a box. Sometimes. Never. Rarely. Often. etc.
This went on for like ten questions, and then we moved on to the physical questions.
Can you climb a flight of stairs? (Yes)
Can you climb three flights of stairs? (Dunno...)
Can you climb ten flights of stairs? (for heaven's sake. We don't have any ten story buildings where I live...)
I began to voice my complaints in a quiet voice to Tim.
Can you run 10 miles? (No...)
Can you run 5 miles? (No...)
Can you run 3 miles? (No again...)
Can you run 1 mile? (For pity's sake!)
I related the ridiculousness to Tim. "I suppose it depends on what is chasing me..."
And there was a snort of laughter from across the room. I looked across and another gray haired couple were laughing together. "I'm sorry!" the woman said, "But that's funny! Don't you think that this questionaire would be a lot more fun if they let you make up your own answers?"
"Absolutely!" I said. "The thing about these questionaires is that they do not factor in your own specifics. They want to lump everyone all together, and I don't see how this information is useful. What is normal for me at 68 is a lot different than say, a 20 year old athlete."
I said, "These questions are stupid, really. I swore when I left the military that I wouldn't run again unless a child was bleeding or something was chasing me. I've held true to that."
I read on.
Can you lift a 50 lb bag of sand?
I said, "Well, that seems awfully specific. I carried a 40 lb bag of diatomaceous earth yesterday. I guess that's close enough."
The man said, "You must have chickens."
I said, "Not yet. I use the diatomaceous earth to sprinkle on my garden to keep the bugs from eating my beans and peppers. I want chickens though. Three."
The man said, "Three is plenty to provide eggs for the two of you."
I said, "I think it will be. I have an nice chicken coop for them." The man laughed that I had my chicken coop already but no chickens.
We went on about the many uses of diatomaceous earth, to include deworming and flea control, which led us to talking about animals. He was curious about cows.
"My sister lives across the road and they have cows," I said.
"So they might not notice if one came up missing?" he laughed.
"Well, we can buy from them, but we eat a lot of venison, really."
His wife said, "When we get a place of our own, I want a teacup donkey." The man snorted. The woman said, "You promised me a teacup donkey!~"
They argued quietly between the two of them.
I went back to my questionaire. It was on a tablet and while we were cheerfully talking, it had timed out. I sighed and took it to the window. The receptionist said cheerfully, "All done?" I said, "Well. No. It timed out. You may not have noticed, but I am a bit of a blabber."
I heard laughter behind me.
I came back with the tablet.
Can you run 100 yds? (sigh...yeah. Probably could manage that.)
Question by question, I went through them. When I took the tablet back to the receptionist, I said, "This really is a ridiculous set of questions." She said, "It is ridiculous."
Anyways, my name finally got called and we waited 45 minutes to see the surgeon. He said, "It looks like you're doing great." I told him I was. "Remember I said that it was St. Boniface's feast day, and I expected a miracle? Well...you pulled one out of your hat. Thanks."
He laughed. He asked me how far I could bend my knee. I demonstrated. He said, "Can you do everything that you want?" I said, "Yes."
He told me that I didn't need another appointment, but to call if I had any problems.
So that was that. I walked out of there feeling like a
We came home, changed clothes and headed to the new house. Tim mowed. We settled the camper. I dug holes for three plants for some flower plants that a lady gave me. I took care of the cats and three of them came running when they were called. Possum will not be petted yet, but Sigh was as loving as she was yesterday. Tiger is nervous but accepting petting.
It was another hot and humid day. I was soaked with sweat after my digging. Tim was dripping wet after his mowing. 86° with 91% humidity.
We knocked off early.
Tim dropped me off on the west side of town and I walked home. It took me nearly an hour to accomplish that walk. The sun beat down. I watched the clouds building up in the west and knew a storm was coming. Once home, it came, and I threw open the windows to catch the wind and hear the thunder. It bucketed down. The storm is over, and it is comfortable for the first time in 3 or 4 days. The thunder is rumbling in the distance as another storm moves in, and it feels like a blessing.
Last night, I could not fall asleep to save my soul. I finally got up and prowled around the internet looking for that book. Finally, I was sleepy enough to go back to bed and sleep. I woke up this morning, and couldn't quite figure out why...and then I heard it: the pattering of rain falling down. What a happy sound. I fell back asleep to the sound of nature's 'white noise'.
When I woke up, Tim was up and moving. He said, "It's so humid out. We are just not working today. Get dressed. We'll run to the new house and take care of the stuff we have to take care of and just call it an early day. I want to go to the Salamanca Antique Mall."
The first thing we did, though, was to stop in to return the trap that I had borrowed from my friend Diane, and to pick up the rocking chair that matched my couch that she was getting rid of. We visited for a while, but the humidity was already getting oppressive, so it was a short visit.
The comfortable chair is a perfect match to the sofa, and Tim likes it too.
That was the first nice thing.
I went down to feed the cats. Much to my surprise, the very first cat to run out and meet me was Sigh, the newly neutered. I figured that it would be a while before she allowed me anywhere close to her, but no. I put their food out and sat down on the floor. Tiger returned. Possum? No where to be found. I imagine that being picked up and fighting her way free from a cage was about all she could take of me. But I sat down on the floor to spend time with them, talking to the two that were brave enough to show up. Much to my surprise, when Sigh was finished eating, she walked over to me and climbed into my lap. That has never happened before. Never. I petted her and scritched under her chin. There were proper cuddles. She purred and purred. I guess that I am forgiven, and I have to tell you that this did make me a little teary. It was totally unexpected.
So that is the second nice thing.
We headed up to Salamanca, and had a very late lunch at one of Tim's favorite places, and then stopped to get gas. Because you would be crazy not to. Indian Reservations are not a part of the United States. They have their own laws. Their own law enforcement. They don't have taxes on their gasoline, and so we paid $2.83 a gallon. They also had a give-away going on.
Remember when you used to get glasses with a fill up? Cups? Key chains? I remember a really popular give away was at the Esso station, where you got a tiger tail to hang from your gas tank. (Esso gas puts a tiger in your tank). Well...things have changed. Now you get a free rolled joint. Maybe 40 years ago, this could have been my third nice thing, but no.
We continued on to the Salamanca Antiques Mall.
I saw a woman restocking a book stall, and so I stopped to chat with her. I pulled up MarieQ's Guttenberg link, and we discussed 'my' book, and about the disappointing lack of pictures, and how I thought that I had the wrong book, but no...the book was right. She was very curious about this, and wrote everything down along with my phone number and said she'd see what she could find out. She understood the whole grandchild thing, having been delighted to find a beloved book from her own childhood. "Miss Suzy..." she said, and immediately I knew. A squirrel who lived in a doll house.
So...that happy conversation was the third nice thing, better than a joint.
But...as I wandered the aisles seeing plenty of things that I liked, but was not tempted to buy, I heard someone calling my name. I turned and it was Tammy the book lady. In her re-stocking, she came across this little book, and it was filled with beautiful illustrations that she thought might please my granddaughter. She handed it to me. "It's not the book that you want, but the pictures are beautiful. Take it for your little girl."
So that was the fourth nice thing, and it was a very sweet, very thoughtful thing to do.
We drove back home and on the way, once again, we had an encounter with a black pick up truck. I am starting to think that those huge black pick up trucks with heavily tinted windows are all driven by jackasses. We were waiting at a light. We were going straight. That truck was beeping his horn in an angry kind of way. The light was red. He finally drove around us, cut in front of us and made his right hand turn. It was such a shock I didn't even think to get the license number. We can only assume that he thought we were turning right. Here it is legal to make a right on red. It is still illegal to go straight through a red light though and I haven't heard any discussion to change that.
But that was only one rotten thing, up against 4 very nice things, so it was a good day.
He bombs a country, then turns around a claims victory for bringing about peace...and then taunts the country he just bombed with a video like that. He is nuts.
But that is the second rotten thing, so I'm going to stop here before I screw up my nice day.
It's raining outside.
That's the fifth nice thing.
Also, I walked home from the Walmart, 2.92 miles.
I'd call it the sixth nice thing, but it was still pretty humid.
I'm still proud of myself so that's a nice thing I guess.
Today was the big day. The vet visit. As noted, Sigh was ready to go. As feared, I could not get Possum to even come near me, and I think it's going to be a while. Tiger must have gotten word to lay low. I didn't see her either.
We showed up at the clinic, and I must say that they were very organized. As each cat came in, they were matched with their name and information, and the papers were attached to the carriers. I felt kind of guilty because I was bringing a very upset cat in and she was in a live trap. I apologized for that and explained that she was feral, and that handling her was going to probably be a problem.
She assured me that they were very accustomed to dealing with the feral population, and that most of them did come in in live traps.
At the end of the day, I got my cat back. I bought some special food for her, but was not sure how long she should be kept confined. Much to my surprise, the worker suggested that if I could confine her, it would be great, but that she was pretty traumatized, and it might be better just to let her go if she didn't settle down. Her instinct would be to find a place to hide until she felt better.
She howled the whole way back home, a half hour trip. When she realized that she was back where she belonged, she set up a mighty caterwauling. Against my own better judgement, I let her go. I watched where she streaked to, and opened the special food I'd gotten for her and put it on a paper plate right next to the spot she ducked under. I checked later and she had eaten it all and was eyeballing me from the safety of her dark place.
Possum's appointment has been pushed back until next month. I have the two live traps in the garage now. They are big ones, raccoon sized. I will just start putting their daily cans of catfood inside the traps, keeping the trap door open so that they all get used to going in and out of the traps. The night before their appointments, I will set the traps so that they are functional. Hopefully, I will have two more cats to be neutered.
It is so humid here. Temperatures in the 80s, which doesn't sound unbearable, but combined with the humidity, it's just soul sucking. We were supposed to have rain this afternoon, which we were much looking forward to. It moved from 4PM to 7PM, and then all possibility of rain was removed from today's forecast. They also removed the rain from tomorrow's forecast. It's too hot to sleep right now, and I think supper is sitting too heavy.
I got my book, and I am so disappointed. Those fairy pictures are the only two pictures in the book. It is not the book from my childhood after all. I knew as soon as I saw the package. It was not the right size. I think I simply need to give up on finding that. My happy memories will not be shared.
My tomatoes have blossoms and my peppers have little buds too.
And that was today, just filled with breathless excitement.
The time spent traveling to Harrisburg was spent wisely. (Read: Debby put her foot down about things, and I know this makes me sound like a tyrant, but this really has gotten out of hand.) He doesn't need all this stuff, but he keeps hauling it home. He can't. I pointed out that he had multiples of power tools. I pointed out that we will not be buying any more houses. These are things that he will not likely ever need or use again. He does not need multiples any more. He does not need 3 buckets of lead. He does not need multiple project vehicles. He has 3 big tractors. He has 2 small tractors. This is nuts.
So.
We got to where we needed to be and we saw the truck. I am not an expert, but the first thing that I saw was that the tires were pretty sketch. Old. Dry rot-y looking. The idea of driving 3+ hours on a scorching day made me nervous. Tim looked it over. The pully that drives serpentine belt did not appear to be turning freely. It was low on power steering fluid. Was it just low, or was there a leak? Hard to tell with just a cursory look. The battery was too big and it was rocking against the hood of the truck. We took it for a drive, and he said, "Yeah. I'm not buying this. I don't think it will make it home."
So.
Poor guy got a few more hours of me on the way home. Again, I used the time wisely.
It took us longer to get home because, at Clearfield on 80, traffic was backed up. Bumper to bumper. Scads of tractor-trailers. It took us nearly 3/4 of an hour to travel 9 miles. I was driving and Tim was eating his supper. What irks me is that the entire 9 miles, there were signs. 'Left Lane Closed' and 'Trucks Must be in Right Lane'. Flashing lights. Over and over and over. And yet we crawled along at a snail's pace. I was leaving plenty of space between me and the truck in front of me so that vehicles could merge right.
Did they? They did not.
To top it off some guy in a big pick up truck behind me got pissed because I was not riding the bumper of the semi truck in front of me and began beeping his horn. He merged left and passed me waving his finger. He was stuck 3 trucks in front of me for the rest of roadblock, so I'm not exactly sure what he felt he accomplished.
Some person in a white SUV went flying past on the shoulder of the road passing everybody at a shocking rate of speed. Perhaps he had to poop. I don't know.
What was the problem? You guessed it. After miles of warnings, people were waiting to merge right until the left lane actually ended. That was the cause of the traffic snafu. Bumper to bumper vehicles were trying to merge into a bumper to bumper lane. It was maddening. I was never so glad to see the Penfield exit in all my life.
We got home at 9:30.
Tomorrow is the day of neutering. I caught one cat. She is safely caged and ready for transport. I waited patiently to catch a second. I watered my plants (I have a blossom on my tomato!), Tim weed whacked and mowed. (I thought he was nuts...the heat. The heeeeeaattt!)
We had driven two vehicles because I had an appointment at PT to get my final measurements done for the surgeon on Friday. After that, I was headed to my friend's to borrow a trap. That was a fruitful visit...she had a chair she needed gone, and it just so happened to match the couch we bought, so...we shook on that. We talked too long. We always do, and we always laugh at ourselves.
Anyways, I set the trap, and before I got out of the garage, I'd trapped Sigh, and put her cage in the basement where it is cool and dark. Here's the heart breaker. I waited and then made my way back to the garage with food. As normal, Possum came running . I had her. I had her by the scruff of the neck. I had her in the trap. I got the crap bitten out of me, and scratched all to smithereens, but I had that cat. When I released her and tried to pull my arm out to shut the door completely, she snaked out past me and was gone just that quickly. I think that she is frightened enough that I will not get a second chance.
I left the trap set and baited. My only hope is that maybe I can catch Tiger. I just feel so bad about this.
Trump's ceasefire did not hold.
I'm shocked.
It sure will not be the sons and grandsons of tRUMP.
I am so grumpy today. It just feels as if Tim and I are not on the same page these days. I know that it is because we're busy, but I am so tired of being busy.
It's just hot. We spent a long day outside moving a fifth wheel camper that had not been moved in probably 3 or 4 years. To do that required moving a wood pile for the third time in 3 months, which is one of my pet peeves: I hate moving the same thing repeatedly. It doesn't bother Tim. I felt like gasoline and matches would be the solution, but he needed that stuff and knew exactly what he was going to do with it.
Moving the camper was a trial. It involved jacking things up, charging dead batteries, finding the chains, hauling the Reese hitch from its temporary storage which was inconvenient and required moving more stuff, hauling the big air compressor up to fill old tires, digging dirt to free legs which had gotten comfortable, settling deep into the dirt, unhooking the electric to the well, after a hunt to find pliers because wire cutters were someplace else. 7 hours later, the camper did get moved. No one died which was my big fear.
So...anyway, that's done.
Once home, Tim announced we're going to Harrisburg tomorrow to buy a truck and I'm mad about that too, because I thought we had an agreement, that he'd sell one of four trucks before buying another. He promises that he will, just as soon as he gets this truck that he wants so badly. It's deja-moo. I've heard this bull before.
He's watching some blood and guts thing that involves drug lords on television. I'm taking my grumpy self to bed to read a book.
The weather will not be any cooler tomorrow. I'm hoping that after a good night's sleep, I'll be a bit cooler though.
William came and worked for us today. He made $15 for cleaning the dirt out of the bed of his grandfather's truck. He also washed the exterior of it. He's saving up for a gaming computer that he wants pretty badly. We offered him work whenever he wants it. Today was the first day he actually took us up on it. He seems to be interested in painting some trim boards, so we might see him again in the near future.
He spoke at great length about how badly he wanted this computer. We reminded him again that he had every opportunity to earn money, but that we would not be chasing him down to see if he wanted to work. "The ball is in your court. When you want to work, call us and we will set it up." It's important that he knows that he needs to take the initiative.
It was a pleasant day with him. He worked steadily, and he did a good job.
I took a walk today. I met up with a neighbor down the road. He has a little white dog that is so perfectly trained. She walks with him and stops on corners to wait for Kevin to tell her she can cross the road. He has had her for years, and today she was sprawled on her side in the shaded grass. Kevin was bringing her a bowl of water, which she lapped at, never moving.
It was a hot day. I had gotten a little relief being soaked by girl with a water soaker gun up the street a bit. The father was a bit shocked. I didn't mind, though, and when the girl saw that I didn't mind, she unloaded on me. If ever was a good day to be soaked, today was that day.
I looked at Kevin's dog and said, "She looks how I feel." That's when he told me that she'd had a stroke, and that the degeneration seemedto be progressing. It started in her front left paw and now affected her whole left side. She was paralyzed.
He had talked to his vet about an MRI. The answer he got was a practical one. The vet explained that the MRI would cost about $4000, but in the end, while it would show what was happening, it would not solve anything. He felt strongly that they were dealing with some sort of brain tumor which was growing, which was why the dog was getting worse. He said that the dog was too old for invasive surgery like that. She would likely die despite the expensive surgery.
In the end, Kevin was left with a decision. He decided that his dog was happy. Still woke up happy to see him. Still took pleasure in laying outside in the grass. Still liked going to church. Still liked going to Lowe's where she has her favorite people and is known by name.
He made the decision that as long as she remains happy and not in pain, he will do his part to make sure that she has the best summer that he can give her. He bought a stroller so that he can still take her on walks.
We talked for a long time, about everything under the sun, while an old dog rubbed her head in the grass in a dreamy sort of way.
My oldest granddaughter loves fairies. When I was a child, I was given a book from my own grandmother. It had the most wonderful fairy stories. It was a book that was very old, very badly damaged. It had no cover. I remembered, though, that it was one of those books that had 365 bedtime stories. The illustrations were so great. I just loved that book, and I had always thought that it had belonged to my mother.
I have tried for a long time to find that book, typing in all the information that I could remember about it. I put it at 1930s, 365 bedtime stories about fairies. Didn't know the author. Didn't know what the cover looked like. Seriously, I've been looking for that book for months. Ebay. Better World Books.
I finally sat down to type up the next installment of her own little fairy story, about Bluebell. I got side tracked since surgery, but a couple days ago, I sat down and typed up four pages to make up for the fact that she had to wait longer than usual. I sealed up and addressed the envelope and put a stamp on it.
She can read those stories all by herself now, and the last time I was there, it made me very happy to see her perched on the edge of her bed in her room all by herself, reading her story.
When that pleasant task was done, once again, I thought of that book I had when I was a child. The stories were short, and the pictures were so sweet. She would be able to read it herself. If only I could find it! I went to Betterworld books and I began typing in information. Once again, I got nowhere. If I knew what the cover had looked like, it would help a great deal. On that site, you don't get to glance at the inside of the book, so I decided to take a look around e-bay. I saw a pretty nondescript cover (I think that there may have been a picture on it at one time, but it has been lost).
It said that the fairy illustrations had been done by Florence Choate which caught my attention.
On ebay, most sellers have it set up that you can look through the book and so I looked at some of those illustrations and realized that, after all this time, I'd finally found that book.
I ordered it, and it came to $25.04 including shipping and tax.
Imagine my surprise to find an Amazon seller offering it at $179!
The book is from before my mother, who was born in 1938. This book is from 1923. It probably belonged to one of her cousins. No wonder it took me so long to find. Wrong date. Didn't know the author. Didn't know what the cover looked like.
I'm so very excited about this book. The stories might be too old fashioned for her, but I think that she will love the pictures. I think that she will like thinking of her grandma as a little girl who loved imagining fairies just as much as she does. She will like thinking of her grandmother's mother being a little girl who loved imagining fairies too. (I hope.)
Today, I polyurethaned the extension jams and frames on the windows. I stained some trim to finish out the pantry and I painted some molding. Tomorrow, we're headed back and we will finish the trim work in at least one of the bedrooms. We are putting the finishing touches on, and that is exciting. We will be able to begin moving in furniture after a month or so.
And...now for the not-so-lucky find: I found another feral cat. The cat-whisperer got the crap bitten out of her today.
President Donald Trump said that Iran has reached out to him and
suggested a meeting at the White House amid Israel's ongoing
strikes. Trump has demanded Iran's unconditional surrender.
"I said it's very late, you know. I said it's very late to be talking," Trump
told reporters on Wednesday morning. "I don't know, there's a big difference
between now and a week ago, right? Big difference."
Trump continued: "They even suggested they come to the White House." He
called it a courageous thing, because "it is not easy for them to do."
Iran responded to the UN: Iran’s Mission to the UN denies US President Donald Trump’s
claim that Tehran has proposed coming to the White House for negotiations to end the
ongoing conflict with Israel.
“No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian mission says.
“Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance,” it adds.
tRUMP announced that the US brokered a peace agreement between Pakistan and India. Indian Prime Minister Modi refutes that:
PM Modi stressed that India has never accepted mediation, does not accept it, and will never accept it.”
“Talks for ceasing military action happened directly between India and Pakistan through existing military channels, and on the insistence of Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi emphasised that India has not accepted mediation in the past and will never do,” Misri said.
Sad state of affairs, that a US leader is outing himself as a liar on the world stage. People always talk about him humiliating himself. I don't think he has enough self awareness to be embarrassed.
I watched a program on the death of John Lennon today, and the comment was made that, like JFK's assassination or the Challenger explosion, people will never forget where they were when they heard the news.
I was stationed in Seoul Korea. I had a clock radio, and I woke up to American Forces Network Yong San breaking the news that John Lennon had been shot and killed in New York City. I'll never forget the shock of that. So, where were you?
That's it really. A quiet day painting trim for the bedrooms. It was a hot and humid day today, and we were grateful for the storms that rolled through and cooled things down tonight.
I have PT tomorrow, but I spoke very matter of factly with the Physical Therapist on Tuesday. Measurable improvement is expected for PT, but I asked him what improvement he expected to see at this point. He admitted that I was far enough ahead of things that there wasn't much improvement to be had. I have full ROM in his mind, and I am active. There is no swelling. There is no pain. He asked when I went back to see the surgeon and I told him the 27th. He suggested that I come back next week for one last appointment, so that he can get a final list of measurements for the surgeon. As far as he is concerned I am ready to be released.
Pretty happy about that.
Monday, June 16, 2025
Last week, I put an ad up on the local Helping Hands site. I wanted an ankle weight, but it's one of those things that I did not want to sink money into because I don't expect that I'll be using them long. So I asked if anyone had a set that I could borrow for a month. Immediately, a woman replied. She had a 2.5 pound set that I could have.
She was on the next street over, and I thought I recognized the house, a short walk. Turns out it was on the other side of town. It was not the house that I thought it was. It was okay though. I don't miss an opportunity to have a walk, so I pressed on.
They are a very nice set of weights, Gold's Gym, still in the box and so when I got home, I messaged her once again to thank her, and to offer to return them. She insisted that she did not need them and was glad that she found someone who did.
So I've been weighting that ankle. I probably over did it. One day, I wore it for most of the afternoon even. We are building a another shed for Tim's stuff. The basement, the second floor of a 30 x 40 garage, one house and the existing shed are not enough. (I think that he is doing downsizing wrong.)
After wearing that weight for a bit every day, I noticed today that I was walking upstairs with very minimal 'pulling' in my leg. Going down the stairs is still a bit of an issue, but I was very pleased to note definite progress.
Today was a banner day for another reason. I ran that dishwasher for the first time. I put all the dishes that I'd bought in it, and it ran just fine. I also did two loads of laundry. I also watered the garden. There was no problem with the well. It's a hundred feet deep, but we were not sure if it would be adequate. Worse case scenario would be drilling another well. Looks like that won't be necessary.
We went to pay our respects to an old friend of Tim's. A quiet guy, a hard worker, someone that Tim had gone to high school with. Brain cancer discovered in Decemeber and 6 months later, he's gone.
His widow standing there alone in front of the coffin. "It just doesn't feel real," she said. The room was crowded with people come to pay their respects and there was a lot of talking. I said, "Well...I imagine once this part is done, and it is quiet again, you'll finally have a chance to grieve." She said, "Yes. You are right. There is too much going on right now."
On the drive back home, we commented on how quickly it had all transpired. Tim said, "You know, I remember, probably 15 years ago, he was talking to one of his kids, and saying, "Listen, you know your old dad forgets stuff..." Tim said, "It just makes you wonder."
I said, "Well, I said it once and I'll say it again. I know cancer has changed a lot for both of us, but we are lucky. We're here. We're still here."
And Tim said, "You're right."
I got called for jury duty in July.
Pretty long, but the first 9 minutes are direct. The rest of it is question and answer.
Today, he signed a bill that allows VA doctors to refuse to treat people based on their marital status and political affiliations. Furthermore, it allows the VA to remove doctors for their political affiliation.
Well, today, for myself, I hit a mile stone. For the first time since the knee replacement, I have once again hit 10,000 steps. When you stop to consider that by the time the knee replacement actually rolled around, I was finding it difficult to hit 4000 steps. It had gotten that bad. But...today, 10,000 steps, and there is no pain.
I just thought that was something lost and gone forever. It will always seem miraculous to me.
I was afraid to hope, really. It was bucketing down the rain. The DAR had scheduled at competing event at General Warren Park to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his courageous death at Bunker Hill.
(Ironic, innit? People who proudly trace their lineage back to a Revolutionary war soldier and their triumph over a king, trying to mute the voices of people speaking up against a man who fancies himself the king...)
But we put on our rain jackets and grabbed our umbrella. Tim took his giant taco and I took my "Ain't no faux king way!" sign, and we went to the courthouse. We were a few minutes early, but people were already starting to gather, which was encouraging.
It continued to pour even as people continued to show up. There were 130-140 people who showed up.
Some funny signs:
'Don't make me repeat myself --- (signed) History'
'Keep it down over there. We're trying to hold a riot here.'
'I'm here because I love my grand children.'
A woman wore a taco costume.
One fellow marched right in the street waving a 'F--- Trump flag', which got a large truck excited. He did a burn out in front of the protesters, smoking his tires, his rear end sliding sideways on the rain slicked roads. License plate ZTR 6509 is probably regaling anyone who will listen about how the libtards jumped out of his way in terror. No one was terrorized. Everyone held their ground. It was a lot of noise but no real danger.
The thing that I loved the very most was all the cars going by. We got a lot of honking horns. Some people were not brave enough to honk, but they gave surreptitious clenched fists or thumbs up. A car full of elderly ladies circled the block 3 times to honk and wave and cheer us on. People driving business vehicles who could not honk sat quietly at the light watching and smiling and giving approving signals. The MAGA truck did not show up with his big flags and his outrage.
One of the pardoned proud boys posted that people should shoot at the protesters. "If you take a couple out, the rest will leave quickly, I guarantee it."
I read a post that surprised me this morning. A man was stopped driving through town last night for a burned out license plate lamp. The interesting thing was that this was in the middle of town, and it was not the town police that stopped him. It was a state trooper. While he said that the officer was polite, he was giving the car a very thorough once over with a flashlight. He is an older gentleman, and he was alone.
For those of you who do not know how it works, State Troopers monitor state roads and the areas outside towns. Towns have their own police force who handle things inside the towns.
If State Troopers are providing back up for the city police, this is very interesting. Why is an extra police presence required? It is reported that an ICE vehicle was at a local park. The newspaper reported that Homeland Security is in town.
So...even out here in the boonies, we are not free from this.
Glad we are protesting Saturday. So glad.
I made my sign today. After thinking about Gigi's remark that a picture may confuse people, I decided she was right. My sign simply says, in great sparkly letters, "Ain't no faux king way". Tim has a giant taco emblazoned with 'TACO KING'. He will wear his stand with Ukraine shirt, I will wear my 'In a world where you can be anything, be kind'.
I had PT today, and there was a retired therapist there. He was such a hoot. He took a gander at my scar, and immediately pulled his pant leg up to display his. He had a knee replacement in March. We scandalized the poor aide when we began discussing the bottles of narcotics we both left the hospital with and never used. I mentioned that my husband was watching 'El Chapo' on Netflix and I thought he'd probably learned enough to traffic them for us.
I actually was afraid that I'd screwed my knee up helping Tim with the tin yesterday. The nerve running down the outside of my leg was making my toes feel very strange. I wasn't sure if I should even try PT today, but I went and figured that I'd leave the decision up to them. They are very practical. They listened. I said, "I wasn't sure whether to try to walk it off, or whether to rest it, so I decided to err on the side of caution. I went to bed with a good book and a heating pad."
They were glad to hear that I'd decided to be cautious. I said, "Don't get used to it." The consensus was that I could have taken a short walk just to see how it affected my leg. If it got better, well...great. If it got worse, I could always just stop and do the heat. Likewise, I could do the PT and if I felt things getting aggravated, just stop.
So that's what I did. There was no aggravation. I even went for a walk tonight, just a short one, no more than a mile.
Tim and I went to our favorite discount grocery store. You honestly cannot tell what you will find there. On the drive there, I said, "Remind me. I need to pick up dishwasher soap. We should try out that dishwasher."
When we got there, I found a box of those pods for $13.80. I was standing there studying the box when Tim walked up. I said, "You know, I don't even know how much this stuff costs. I haven't bought dishwasher soap for 30 years." Looking closer, I noted that it had 115 pods in it, which would work out to less than 13¢ a load. I said, "For just you and I, I imagine this would probably come close to a years' worth of pods." I can't imagine we'd be running the dishwasher more than once every two or three days. (All you dishwasher people feel free to weigh in on this.)
Anyways, good news is that we were not skunked. Buying it in a regular store would have cost us $27.95.
So...that was today.
I'm really enjoying the book "Return to Nab's End". It's quite a glimpse of a different time and place, as seen through the eyes of a 16 year old boy. For some reason, the voice of it reminds me of Weaver and Tasker. Sensible, enduring, practical.
Talking of a different time and place, Tim and I realized we graduated from high school 50 years ago. Crazy to think about.
Another crazy thing to think about? How about that Air India crash? One lone survivor, a British national from Leicester. His name is Viswash Kumar Ramesh. He has no idea what happened. The theory is that the plane broke apart, and he was thrown free from the plane before it exploded upon impact. Sadly he lost his brother in the crash.
We got two roofs tinned. I stayed on the ground and I did not carry the sheets of tin by myself. It was too windy, and I was afraid that a gust of wind would catch an 11 foot piece of tin, knock me off balance and twist my knee. So Tim told me he needed me to haul sheets of tin to him. I told him I needed him to carry the other end. It went okay, but I'm taking a break tonight and reading The Return to Nab End.
Here's a funny story. I was at the GoodWill shopping for nice curtain rods. I found a very nice wooden one, unopened, in store packaging which would work for the guest bedroom. It was $2.99. I also took a look at cereal bowls. Remember that box of dishes that I fell in love with and bought because 1) they were $5 and 2) they maaaaaaaatched....?
(Yeah. I feel stupid every time I say it out loud)
Anyways, the set came with plates in three different sizes. Probably 30 or more. But there were no bowls. So when I go to thrift stores, I look for nice bowls that will coordinate with those plates, and I've found five of them. (Turns out I've got a good eye for this sort of thing, something that I never knew about myself). So...anyways, I walked over to the dishware and took a look. I found one nice bowl that I thought would work. It had the same contour as the two bowls I'd found previously and the color would coordinate with the plates. I picked it up and headed to the register. Imagine my surprise to find (only after I got to the register!) that the one bowl was $7.99! One cereal bowl.
I didn't buy it.
I'm sure you're not surprised.
We had to stop at the post office to mail something off, and so on the spur of the moment, I said, "Do you mind if we stop at the thrift store here just to look for cereal bowls?" It is not a store that we often go to, so Tim didn't mind. I found just what I was looking for. 4 nice bowls for $2.
I had a good PT session today. At this point, my only difficulty would be stairs. I walk up and down a flight of stairs at least once a day. After years of stepping and pegging, I have to remind myself to walk alternating feet. Going upstairs is okay. Not great, but I can do it. Coming downstairs is a bit more of a struggle. I have to hold on to the railing and force myself to do it. So. I brought that up at the session today, and as Boud suggested, I asked about leg weights.
"Sure," Paul said. "We can add weights," and so he did, just two pounds. We did quite a stair workout today, and by the time that I left, I felt that I had worked.
The PT said, "Did you move any couches this week?"
I said, "Good lord, no! You took such a fit about it the last time, I figured that I wouldn't. But did you ever see those people all harnessed up and pulling semi trucks...I was tempted..."
He laughed. "Well, at least that truck has wheels on it."
I said, "You just are not getting it. The couch was on sale AND it matched. You didn't expect me to walk away from that, did ya?"
I got some grocery shopping done, bought cat food, and came back home. I kept myself busy and on my feet. This evening we had a grandson's ball game, and then I asked to be dropped off a mile from home and got an evening walk in. I'll have 7500 steps in before bedtime. Not a huge number, but every day, that number increases. Very satisfying.
We've had some pretty fierce weather around us. Tornado touchdowns west of us and north east of us. Flooding in Cuba New York caused it to be declared a state of emergency. (You may not realize that Cuba New York is where Laura Ingalls Wilder's pa was raised.) We got nothing but heavy rain and thunderstorms. It is still coolish here and I am hopeful that at some point, we will get a summer. On a positive note, I haven't had to water the gardens.
This is the light for the kitchen that we got off from Marketplace for $25. I really like it, and the best part is that the lights aim where you need the light, so the counter tops are perfectly lit. So that's my happy for today. We are polyurethaning the trim boards to frame the windows and hope to get that done tomorrow morning before the rain starts again.
I also walked over two miles today. What a joy it is to be able to do that with no pain.
Now...
This is a long post, so all of you unhappy with political posts need to click off now.
From Senator Chris Murphy who sent out this report from the Senate Floor: Last night in the Senate, something really important happened. Republicans forced us to debate their billionaire bailout budget framework. We started voting at 6 PM because they knew doing it in the dark of night would minimize media coverage. And they do not want the American people to see how blatant their handover of our government to the billionaire class is.
So I wanted to explain what happened last night and what we did to fight back. The apex of Republicans' plan to turn over our government to their wealthy cronies is a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations. And they plan to pay for it with cuts to programs that working people rely on. Popular and necessary programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, are all being targeted. In order to pass the tax cut, Republicans have to go through a series of procedural steps. Last night, they took the first step which requires them to pass an outline of their plan, but with it, any senator can offer as many amendments as we want. So my Democratic colleagues and I did just that.
Now, we knew that Republicans would largely unanimously oppose them, but we had two objectives here. One, Republicans were forced to put their opinion on record -- many for the first time -- on the most corrupt parts of Trump and Musk's agenda. Two, as I've been saying, I am going to make every process and procedure as slow and as painful as possible for as long as my colleagues choose to ignore the constitutional crisis happening right before our eyes.
So what did we propose? We proposed no tax cuts for anyone who makes a billion dollars a year. We made them vote on weather or not Elon Musk and DOGE should have limitless access to American's personal data. We made them vote on whether to protect IVF and to require insurers to cover it. Every single amendment Democrats proposed was shot down. On almost every single amendment, Republicans universally opposed it. Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for Billionaires. The corruption and theft is happening in the open here.
The whol game for Republicans is taking your money and giving it to the wealthiest corporations and billionaires -- even if it means kicking your parents out of a nursing home or turning off Medicaid for the poorest children. They know what they are doing is deeply unpopular. They are offering a tax cut to the most wealthy that is 850 times larger than what they are offering working people. Oh. And by the way, any tax cuts for working people are going to be washed out by higher costs for basic necessities, like health care and food. It's a fundamental injustice.
Thanks to your pressure and support, many of my Democratic colleagues have joined my effort to do everything we can do to make sure they cannot destroy democracy and steal your money in the dark of the night. We are being loud about what is happening. I'm going to continue to grind the gears of Congress down as much as possible to make it harder and slower to get away with this corruption. That's why the votes lasted until nearly 5AM.
This is a five-alarm fire. I don't think we have two years to plan and fight back. I think we have months. It's still in our power to stop the destruction of our democracy with mass mobilization and effective opposition from elected officials. So we can't miss any opportunity to take advantage to put the Republicans on the record and to shine a light on what is happening. You have a role to play in this as well. I need you to amplify what is happening, support the leaders who are fighting for you to make sure they can continue speaking truth to power against Musk and Trump's billionaire cronies, and show up and rallies and town halls. Use every tool at your disposal to send a message loud and clear about how you expect my colleagues to lead and fight in this moment.
You need to understand that the governor has not authorized this and that the action has escalated the violence. We have the right to protest and the protests were, according to the police, non-violent.
Understand also that he has made it clear that he is prepared to send military troops to wherever the protests are happening "if he deems it necessary". This is martial law. This is the military being used against its own citizens.
I close with the wisdom of Robert Reich:
Friends,
What is our moral responsibility as citizens of the United States when the President of the United States moves to deploy thousands of American soldiers against us?
Trump signed a memo late yesterday ordering 2,000 members of the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles County after federal immigration agents in riot gear squared off with hundreds of protesters for a second consecutive day.
Trump’s action is extreme although technically legal. Governor Gavin Newsom did not call in the Guard. Title 10 of the United States Code allows a president to federalize the National Guard units of states to suppress “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.”
In a presidential memo, Trump said, “To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
Last night, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy active-duty Marines in Los Angeles:
"The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil. A dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK. Under President Trump, violence and destruction against federal agents and federal facilities will NOT be tolerated," he continued. "It's COMMON SENSE."
Why is Trump doing this, and why now?
Because Trump can’t stand to be humiliated — as he has been in the last two weeks. By senate Republicans refusal to quickly enact his so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. By Xi Jinping’s refusal to back down on trade (and restrict shipments of China’s rare earths, which American industry depends on). By the federal courts pushing back against his immigration policy. And, now, by insults and smears from the richest person in the world, who has a larger social media following than does Trump.
So what does Trump do when he’s humiliated? He deflects public attention. Like any bully, he tries to find another way to display his power — especially over people who are powerless, such as immigrants. Especially over people whom he doesn’t consider “his” people, such as Californians.
He has despised California since the 2016 election when the state overwhelmingly voted against him.
And what better Ground Zero for him to try out his police state than Los Angeles — a city teaming with immigrants, with Hollywood celebrities who demonize him, and wealthy moguls who despise him?
He is calling out the National Guard to provoke violence. As Governor Newsom said, “that move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”
Trump wants to escalate tensions. He wants a replay of the violence that occurred in the wake of the George Floyd murder — riots, mayhem, and destruction that allow him to escalate his police state further — imposing curfews, closing down parts of Los Angeles, perhaps seeking to subdue the entire state. And beyond.
Please do not give him this. Don’t fall into his trap.
We cannot be silent in the face of Trump’s dictatorial move. Silence is acquiescence. We must be brave in resisting him. But we must not succumb to violence.
What is needed is peaceful civil disobedience. Americans locking arms to protect those who need protection. Americans sitting in the way of armored cars. Americans singing and chanting in the face of the Americans whom Trump is drafting into his handmade civil war.
Americans who do not attempt to strike back, but who do what many of us did during the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements — peacefully but unambiguously reject tyranny. To be brave and non-violent in the face of tyranny, to be strong and restrained, to resist with our hearts filled with anger but not succumb to that anger — is terribly difficult. But Martin Luther King Jr. taught us its importance, and George Lewis taught us how.
A humiliated Trump is the most dangerous Trump. He has manufactured this entire crisis. But he will overreach. He already has. And this overreach will ultimately be his undoing.
As long as we keep our heads.
May we look back on this hellish time and feel proud of what we did.
