Sunday, February 9, 2025

Boud

 I want to direct you to something. 

https://fieldfen.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-shadbush-shad-and-gift-economy.html

It is written by Boud, whose name is familiar to me from comments on other blogs, but I haven't 'met' her yet. I'm not sure why. 

The post is a timely reminder for anyone wringing their hands and wondering what to do. We help. That's what we do. We look around and and we help as best we can. 

I had an experience in that yesterday that I will add to her words. 

Mattie and her mother in law needed a ride yesterday. 'Grandma' has had some difficulties, and had some work done on her leg. She had an appointment at the doctor's for a followup yesterday, which struck my ear as strange, because I don't know many doctor offices that are seeing patients on a Saturday, but hey...it was a morning out, so I didn't mind. 

I picked my way up the hill. It is icy here, and their driveways are sloped. Their driveways are covered in such a sheet of ice one can scarcely walk on them, let alone get a Suburu up them, even with four wheel drive kicked in. The house driveway was a definite no go. I went sideways immediately, and allowed the car to slide slowly back into the road trying to keep a handle on the slide so that I did not wind up in a ditch. I was successful. 

By that time, Levi was out. He called, "Try the middle driveway." Which I did. I got a bit farther, but still, my car wound up going side ways. I let it slide back down into the road. The ditches were a little less worrisome on this driveway, which was good, because I was much more 'sideways' than I had been on the house driveway. 

I hated to have grandma walk. Levi called, "Are you any good at backing up?" I said, "Well...yeah..." and he suggested trying that. I was doubtful, but I gave it a go. Levi called, "I'll direct you..." Worried no doubt about some logs and a piece of sawmill equipment that is pulled by a horse. I called back from my open car window, "I'd rather have you stay back. If I slide sideways or something, I'd hate to hit you. You're ornery, but I'd sure feel bad if I killed you," and his teeth flashed in his beard. "Oh, I wouldn't feel anything when you were done," and he laughed. 

I am proud to say that I backed that car right up the icy slope to where Mattie and Grandma stood. Didn't spin much at all, and definitely did not go sideways. As I often do, I found myself wondering just how an Amish man knows how to get a car up a icy hill, but I do not ask a lot of questions. 

Anyways, we got loaded up and headed back down the hill. 

The doctor's office was locked up and dark. I privately thought that they'd made a mistake on the date, but no, Grandma had her appointment card. Thinking perhaps that he'd had trouble getting in on the icy roads, I called the number on it, and left a message asking for instructions, and we ducked across the road to get gas. 

I hadn't even begun to fill the tank when my phone began to ring in the car. Mattie will not touch the phone, but luckily, it was still in my wallet, so she did hand it to me. It was the doctor who impatiently explained that he'd had his receptionist call all his appointments to cancel them. They did not have a phone number for Iva. 

I said, "Well...she is Amish..."

In any case, that took care of that. Rides in to town are not wasted, and so we had some shopping to get done at the grocery store, Mattie had a prescription to fill for David, and grandma was hoping that the eyeglass place in Walmart could fix her glasses. The nose piece had fallen off. 

Mattie was doing baking for church. They bake in quantities not understood by us mere mortals, and she needed more eggs than her molting hens were producing. She was a bit shocked to see eggs priced at $5.42 a dozen at Aldi's. She thought that she might wait to get to Walmart. "Hopefully, they will be cheaper there," she said. 

Later, at Walmart, she stood in dismay in front of a display of eggs priced at $6.82 a dozen. 

I had just bought 4 dozen eggs from my niece. I use a dozen a week, but I still had 3 dozen left. I said, "I pay $3 a dozen to buy them from Ange. You can have them for what I paid for them. Will that help?" 

And she felt badly about taking them, but "making for church" is a very big deal to them, and the women take great pride in an abundant spread. I asked her if that would be enough. She said, "Well, if I could get 2 or 3 dozen more by Friday..."

I said, "Well, when I get home, Tim and I are headed to the new house. We'll see if Ange has more eggs." The ride back up on the hill was filled with talk about eggs, and the prices of eggs. I shared a story about Jim and Allison and $12. eggs, which had them stunned anew. 'What were people going to do?' they wondered. 

Long story short, after we dropped the ladies off and got the car unloaded, I texted my niece. She had 10 dozen eggs. She'd sell me 8. I picked up 8 dozen for $24, and when we headed back home, we went the long way home. We dropped off 3 more dozen eggs with Mattie. When we walked back out across the icy driveway, Tim had their $9 in his pocket and a bowl of homemade ice cream under his belt. I dropped off a dozen eggs for Grandma who was pleased we thought of her and straightaway went for her wallet to count out her $3. One the way down the hill, we stopped at Tim's daughter's house, and gave her a dozen too, which she was glad to get. 

At the end of the day, eight dozen eggs minus 5 dozen we handed off left me with 3 dozen eggs, eggzactly what I had taken from the fridge to give to Mattie to start with. I was no poorer, eggwise, than I'd been at the beginning of the day. We were out $3 for the dozen we'd given to his daughter, but no more. But, you know, I felt much richer in a way that I couldn't articulate. 

Boud is right. Thank you, Kris for calling the post to my attention.

Friday, February 7, 2025

The Day of Small Nonsense.

 Today was one of those days where one thing just kind of rolls into another thing, and before you know it, the day is gone. Tim had an appointment to get the car inspected. He got it inspected a couple weeks ago, and they told him that it needed a new inner tie rod end. He dutifully bought the parts and set to work. Except that he discovered that while it showed minor wear, it was in his opinion, perfectly fine. He used to hold an inspection license. He used to do inspections, back in the day before he became a machinist. (He went to school for that because being a mechanic was a dead end job, working for someone who was trying to squeeze every bit of profit he could from his workers). So he became a machinist, and then Reagan put NAFTA in to play and all those well paying machinists jobs left the country. After being laid off from one machinist job after another, in frustration he said, "I will never again tie my future to a company." Because of these layoffs (4 of them in 3 years), we were afraid of losing our house, and began to sock every bit of money into paying off our house loan, and we got it done just a matter of months before he got laid off again, a matter of months before the Crash of 2008, when the price of houses plummeted, and he discovered that houses were being sold for pennies on the dollar. We bought our first house for $2000. Of course, it had a hole in the bathroom floor that went clear through to the basement. We wound up having to jack up the house and install new beams under it, and that's one spooky thing, being in a basement, jacking up a whole house and hearing that creeeeeeeaaaaakkk of a house leaving its foundation. My sister was in college by that point, and her husband came and worked for us on Saturdays, and taught Tim a whole lot. The plan was to fix that house up and then rent it, and then winnow the rents (It was a two unit) into the purchase of another house, except Tim found another house before we got it done and he pestered to buy it, and, as usual, I gave in because I got tired of him arguing the point. We signed the papers the day after I found out I had cancer. It was too late to call it off without losing a bunch of money that we didn't have to lose, but strangely, once it was signed, we had someone call and ask if we, by chance, had a place for rent, and Tim said yes. When he walked down to that building, an old friend from highschool happened to be walking by and said, "Tim! I didn't know you lived here!" and Tim explained that he didn't, but that he was getting ready to show an apartment, and the old friend said, "I am looking for a place to live!!!" and so both apartments were rented that night, and we didn't even have time to put an ad in the paper. It took a long time to fix the first house but the rents from the second house covered all that, and Tim was laid off so he had plenty of time, and all this kept him from getting too bitter about the loss of his rosy future as a machinist. Then came a house down the street went on the market...and then over on the south side and then...well...we got ourselves a business out of the deal. Tim also got called back to work. So, between the two of things, we were hopping busy, and have remained that way until this very day.

But...I digress...back to the tie rod end...Tim looked at it, and lo, the man was pissed.  He came into the house. "I'm not changing that!" he said in disgust. "There's nothing wrong with it." So today he took the car in to be inspected at another inspection site, and the car passed just fine, which made his day. He does love to be right. (Explanation: some inspections stations gamble that if they fail a vehicle, the customer will pay them to fix it.)

We dropped off some paperwork, and then headed over to spend the afternoon at the rehab putting together the plumbing. When we finished for the day, we headed for Lowe's to pick up the stuff we needed for tomorrow. 

Then I was off to get a haircut, and then to get the grocery shopping done for Superbowl Sunday. We have friends coming over for a meal and the game. 

The Big Nonsense:

My oldest daughter found this one. https://www.youtube.com/@AssemblyRequiredPodcast. She's is very good and you can subscribe to the channel at no cost. What I most like about her is her unwavering faith that we can come together and push back against what is happening. That is a hopeful thing, and I think that people really are looking to recapture some amount of hope.

Don't forget to drop your links in the comments.

Joan? Are you still able to comment?



Thursday, February 6, 2025

Thank you

First of all, I want to thank every person who has commented and left their own links for me to read. I read/watch them all. It might take me a day. But I appreciate it very much. 

One of the biggest problems is because I am reading the news, I'll read an article which leads me to read further and I spend a lot of time studying a handful of issues and then, 

bam, I find myself hearing about something for the first time, and saying, 'cripes...how did I miss that?' I am very glad to get other links from other people. So...I will share links, and I very much appreciate you sharing links with me. Keep them coming. 

Here's my link: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-musk-lawless-orders

Late Edit: (Thanks to Alison for her mention of it over at Steve's blog...I would have missed it)

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-doge-staff-quit-b2693784.html

Today started out with quite an ice storm. School was canceled, but the worst of it was over by 10, at least here in town. The problem is that I live in a pretty rural community. Plowing and salting is done by prioritizing. The heavy use roads are done first, and the back roads are gotten to as they can be fit in. Having buses on those roads can be dangerous, and so, the kids got a day off from school. 

Tim headed out to work on the rehab. I stayed close to home, cleaning the kitchen and quietly chiding myself for fretting. I've been waiting on some test results which, under normal circumstances, would have been received on Friday. I received a call which said that the doctor wanted previous images to compare things to. You may remember that I left the AHN practice I belonged to and went to a UPMC group, primarily because of repeated hospital inefficiency. The records were requested Friday morning, and were finally received today. 

Sometimes, waiting gives your mind a chance to run wild...'why does he need to compare?' 'Is there something questionable?' After 4 business days, went from considering the possibility that something might be wrong to 'dear God. Something's wrong.' So. Basically, I was good for nothing this week. But those results came in today. Everything is fine. 

I felt a little ridiculous.

So I went over to help Tim at the rehab this afternoon. He finished wiring the kitchen. We pulled nails and prepared walls and got ready for the next big step. 

Jaycee complained about her yawn of a day. Well. I see her yawn and raise her one. 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Quiet Place

 I've been thinking about things and I know that there are a lot of people who are having some major anxiety over the situation right now. I get that. I totally get that, and to be perfectly honest, I'd prefer to see people struggling with it rather than simply cheering it on. I read someone who commented that she was thrilled to have a tough business man handling the finances. Shocking to me, because our constitution is in large part built around preventing one man from being able to make decisions like the ones he's making., but there he goes, hammering away at everything, closing buildings, telling people not to come to work...I mean, he doesn't even qualify for a security clearance, and he knows the social security number of every single American. He has access to our financial information. He tried to bring in a foreign citizen to help him in his mighty endeavors, but this got shot down. 

Trump's plan for Gaza. Where the hell do I even begin? All Palestinians need to leave, and they should go to Egypt and Jordan. Both countries have said they do not want to take them in. I think that it is amazingly ironic blabbing from a man who is actively deporting and incarcerating immigrants at Gitmo. What right does he have to direct other countries to do what he himself is opposing in his own country. Yeah. Let's start there. 

Anyways...

There are a lot of people that can't bear to look at these happenings. I do understand that. There are others of us who really do feel the need, as much as we hate what is going on, to keep a close eye on things. I personally consider it my duty to know what is going on, and to speak up every chance I get. If you can't handle that, I guess that my blog is not for you, and I understand that too. Go in peace. No hard feelings. 

One thing that I know is that digesting what is going on and writing about it is a mentally draining thing for me. I mean, I cannot even watch the evening news right now. I can't stand hearing about it. So, I read it. I read a lot. Somehow that's easier for me to take than listening to it.

There are other people out there, people with way more experienced than me, more knowledge of me, more able to fit all these horrible things into a proper framework. What I plan to do from now on is pop a link or two into my posts. If current events are a trigger for you, you can simply not click on them. 

Today's Link: The Care and Feeding of Donald Trump

As a subscriber, I've been offered the chance to give 5 one month subscriptions to anyone who wants them. If that's any of you, let me know and I'll try to sign you up for them. So far, I haven't been able to sign in, but maybe it needs a day or two to click in. The articles come to your e-mail address, and I think they do a good job of separating the wheat from the chaff. 

So, what did we get up to today? Well. Today we picked up 40 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so I separated, packaged and vacuum sealed those. We were amazed at the size of them. One chicken breast feeds us both, so we put 30 meals in the freezer today. 

I made my weekly batch of yogurt while I was waiting for Tim to come back from the butcher shop. 

After we were done with that, Tim ate some dinner, and then we headed down to the new house to look at the tile. Tim wanted to make sure that the cement dried and everything was held in place. It was solid and there was no wobble. 

I went down to feed the cats. I had a treat for them. Some of the chicken breasts had required a bit of trimming, so I saved all the scraps and cooked them up. So I headed down to the garage, calling them. I could hear them thundering down the ladder to meet me before I even opened the door. I sat down on the floor and fed them and had a little visit with them. Tiger is the most vocal of them, and when I pet him, he makes happy little 'puurrrrrrrrrrrp' sounds as he curls around my hand. I don't know what made me do it, but today, I answered him. I made a little puurrrrrrrrrrrrp right back at him. 3 cats froze from their post prandial ablutions to stare at me. It just made me laugh at their disbelief. The three of them stopped what they were doing, came immediately to me, all of them answering me. Even Minnie the unpettable! So that was a fun moment. I sat on the floor talking to them. They sat in a semicircle around me talking right back. 

We picked out the grout we wanted today. We had to order it, but it should be here Monday. 

We stopped at a store, and much to my joy, I found ROSEMARY!!!! I've been out of it for about a month, and I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I don't know why it would be out, but the four stores I went had none. 

So, tonight we came home and had our chicken supper. Tim had mashed potatoes with his. I just sliced up a bit of it and topped a salad with it. Very nice. 

So there you have it. Today. A bit of sanity in the middle of the crazy. Hope you all found your own bit of sanity. 


Scary Stuff.

 https://www.newsweek.com/us-government-de

February 3, 2025 (Monday)
I’m going to start tonight by stating the obvious: the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also control the White House and the Supreme Court. If they wanted to get rid of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, they could introduce a bill, debate it, pass it, and send it on to President Trump for his signature. And there would be very little the Democrats could do to stop that change.
But they are not doing that.
Instead, they are permitting unelected billionaire Elon Musk, whose investment of $290 million in Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election apparently has bought him freedom to run the government, to override Congress and enact whatever his own policies are by rooting around in government agencies and cancelling those programs that he, personally, dislikes.
The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a coup. The U.S. president has no authority to cut programs created and funded by Congress, and a private citizen tapped by a president has even less standing to try anything so radical.
But Republicans are allowing Musk to run amok. This could be because they know that Trump has embraced the idea that the American government is a “Deep State,” but that the extreme cuts the MAGA Republicans say they want are actually quite unpopular with Americans in general, and even with most Republican voters. By letting Musk make the cuts the MAGA base wants, they can both provide those cuts and distance themselves from them.
But permitting a private citizen to override the will of our representatives in Congress destroys the U.S. Constitution. It also makes Congress itself superfluous. And it takes the minority rule Republicans have come to embrace to the logical end of putting government power in the hands of one man.
Musk’s team in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has taken control of the U.S. Treasury payment systems that handle about $6 trillion in annual transactions for the U.S. government, thus gaining access to Americans' personal information as well as information about Musk's competitors. From there, Musk claims to have been cancelling those transactions he thinks are wasteful. He claims, for example, to have “deleted” the popular Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Direct File system that enabled people to file their taxes online for free, without the help of paid tax preparers.
Musk’s team apparently consists of six engineers, aged 19 to 24, who are taking control of the computers at government agencies. From the Treasury Department, they went on to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which receives foreign policy guidance from the State Department. Their breaching of the computers there compromises our national intelligence systems, which must now be considered insecure.
From there, they went on to the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages the federal government’s 7,500 or so buildings. Musk’s people sent an email to regional managers telling them to begin ending the leases on federal offices. According to Chris Megerian of the Associated Press, the person in charge of that initiative is Nicole Hollander, who describes herself on LinkedIn as employed at Musk’s social media company, X.
Today, according to an email sent to employees of the Small Business Administration, Musk’s people have gotten into that agency’s human resources, contracts, and payment systems. The Small Business Administration supports small businesses and entrepreneurs, and under the Biden-Harris administration, small businesses boomed thanks to small-dollar loans to women, Black, and Latino entrepreneurs.
By this afternoon, Musk’s people were digging into the data of the Department of Education with an eye to dismantling it from the inside before Trump tries to shut it down with an executive order, although only Congress itself can shutter the department. According to Laura Meckler, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, and Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post, Musk’s DOGE staffers had accessed sensitive internal data systems, including the personal information of millions of students who are taking part in the federal student aid program. It is highly unlikely that Congress would destroy the Department of Education, so Musk and Trump hope to hollow it out from within.
On a livestream last night, Musk said of his destruction of the federal government: “If it’s not possible now, it will never be possible. This is our shot, This is the best hand of cards we’re ever going to have. If we don’t take advantage of this best hand of cards, it’s never going to happen.”
Three federal employees unions are suing the Trump administration to stop Musk, and today, Democratic members of the House and Senate tried to enter the USAID building but were denied entry. Led by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the Democrats condemned what Raskin called Musk and Trump’s “illegal, unconstitutional interference with congressional power.”
“Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury,” Raskin said, “but you don’t control the money of the American people. The United States Congress does that—under Article I of the Constitution. And just like the president, who was elected to something, cannot impound the money of the people, we don’t have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk. And that’s going to become real clear.”
Senator Murphy said: "[L]et's not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions of dollars based off of his business with China. And China is cheering at [the destruction of USAID]. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our government right now is doing it based on self-interest: their belief that if they can make us weaker in the world, if they can elevate their business partners all around the world, they will gain the benefit.”
Murphy continued: “But there’s another reason this is happening. They’re shuttering agencies and sending employees home in order to create the illusion that they’re saving money, in order to…pass a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations.”
While Musk and his DOGE team are trying systematically to dismantle the government, today Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in grants and loans before DOGE got going. AliKhan said that by impounding funds—which Congress declared illegal in 1974—Trump’s Office of Management and Budget “attempted to wrest the power of the purse away from the only branch of government entitled to wield it.” It is Congress, not the president, that determines federal spending.
Meanwhile, the elected president, Donald Trump, sparked a crisis last Friday when his White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, announced that he fully intended to go through with the trade war he had hyped on the campaign trail. Trump announced he would levy tariffs of 25% on most products from Mexico and Canada and of 10% on products from China, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, in violation of the trade agreement his own team had negotiated during his first term.
As soon as Leavitt announced the upcoming tariffs, the stock market began to fall, and by last night, stock market futures had fallen 450 points on the expectation of tariffs hitting at midnight tonight. Today, the stock market continued to fall. Even reliable Trump allies began to complain that the tariffs would raise prices. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called Trump’s tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Today, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced that she and Trump had “reached a series of agreements” that would pause the threatened tariffs for a month. Mexico agreed to “reinforce the northern border with 10,000 elements of the National Guard immediately, to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States,” while the U.S. “commits to work to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”
When Trump announced their conversation shortly afterward, he omitted the part of the agreement that committed the U.S. to try to stop the flow of guns to Mexico. He also did not mention that, in fact, Mexico committed to putting 10,000 troops at the border in 2021. As Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post commented: “Any news outlet reporting Mexico conceded anything to Trump to get him to delay tariffs has not done its homework. Trump boasts he got Mexico to commit to stationing 10K troops at our border. Apparently he didn't realize Mexico already has 15K troops deployed there[.]”
The crisis at the northern border worked out in a similar fashion. After conferring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump announced a 30-day pause in the implementation of tariffs. Trudeau agreed to appoint a border czar and to implement a $1.3 billion border plan that Canada had announced in December.
In other words, while Musk was causing a constitutional crisis, Trump created an economic crisis that threatened both domestic and global chaos, then claimed Biden administration achievements as his own and declared victory.

The tariffs on Chinese goods went into effect as planned. China has promised to levy tariffs of up to 15% on certain U.S. products beginning a week from today. It also said it will investigate Google to see if it has violated antitrust laws.

I can only be outraged one thing at a time. I see what is happening small bits at a time. Ms Cox sees the big picture.

It's horrifying. It is happening.

Monday, February 3, 2025

Don't Look Andrew!!!!!

 There is a close up picture of that little corner just as you enter the door. We have a (lowers voice to a whisper, looking about for Andrew) log bench to go under the window so that people can sit down and take off their boots or shoes. On the right side of the picture, that bit of wall? We've got 3 hooks with ceramic 'knobs' that match the cupboard doors (dumb luck, really. I bought the hooks years ago because they were on sale, long before I ever knew we were buying the cupboards.) I have a handcrafted basket with leather handles to slide under the right side of the bench, which is where hats and scarves and mittens will get dropped. I just found the perfect boot tray, long and narrow that will fit under the bench to hold wet or snowy boots. It sounds silly, but I'm excited to put that little corner together. But, we have to wait for the cement to dry, and then we need to grout the tile. 

(And really, Andrew, it is a very nice bench, smooth and sanded and polyurethaned.)


A better look at the tile. 

So, that was today, and we were pleased. 

When we were done, Tim suggested taking a quick run to Happs, our discount Amish grocery. I went there with the intention of picking up another couple vacuum sealed bags of coffee for the freezer. Much to my surprise, their coffee had doubled in price. But...like I said, I didn't actually need more. It's just that every time that we are there, I grab a couple bags. Today, however, no bags were grabbed.

They had quite a collection of unexpected items. Believe it or not, they had wasabi paste. I bought 4 tubes at 29 cents apiece. You might remember that I spent nearly $6 not long ago when I bought it from Wegman's. I was shocked to pieces to find a box containing 4 packages of Nori sheets. Each package contained 50 sheets. Priced at $3.19, it was in my cart in a heartbeat. We found quite a bit of stuff. Pet food at good prices. Comes in handy for feeding ferals. I picked up some pouch packs of vegetarian meals for a friend. They even had 7 grain bread of an expensive brand that we normally never buy. We went out with a full cart. 

Another thing? I placed an order today. A black berry bush. A raspberry bush. A blueberry bush. 

Late Edit for Ceci who wondered at the log bench: 

The bench looks similar to this. Ours is up on the third floor right now, where it has been waiting patiently to make itself useful for many years. 



Sunday, February 2, 2025

The Weekend

Something that horrifies me is tRUMP's retaliation against General Milley. General Milley is a 4 star general who has given 40 years of service. He is a Green Beret. He has never had a black mark on his record, but he was openly critical of tRUMP, at one point calling him a fascist. His security clearance has been revoked. His security detail has been taken away (it was assigned after threats from Iran). His portrait was removed from the Pentagon. Hesgeth is investigating him for treason, the goal being to take rank. What this does for a retired military person is to reduce his retirement pay. 

Story here: 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/01/31/loneliest-general-silence-surrounds-gen-mark-milley-amid-trump-retaliation.html

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/31/headlines/trump_withdraws_security_for_gen_mark_milley

The tariffs have triggered pushback, which I am glad to see. It's going to be a shock for Americans, but unfortunately, I believe the only way out of this is for his supporters to have a grand epiphany. Unfortunately, the rest of us are also going to pay the price, but it is how it has to be. Some people just aren't going to see it until it happens to them. 



Anyways, that is just about all of that news that I am capable of commenting on. 


Here's something funny. We've got Tiger climbing the corner of the garage. 



This one is either Sigh or Possum. I can't tell them apart unless I see their faces. 





Not sure what they are doing. Sitting on the roof? It's a two story building. It was my laugh for the day.


We have put the hardy backer board down at the new house. The plan is to have an entrance area right inside the door. 



I thought I had a better picture. But this will help you visualize. We wanted ceramic tile inside the door instead of having wet shoes and boots on the hardwood floor. So, to the right of the fridge, centered under the window, we have a five foot log bench. We bought that log bench probably 15 years ago, and it has been awaiting for a chance to be displayed. 


The tile is ceramic, but it looks like sandstone. It has a rough, non-shiny finish, which we both liked. They did not have the tile that we had decided on first, but this is made by the same company and we couldn't really see the difference between the two, but this one was about half the price of our first selection. Win-win, I'd say, so we bought it and it is sitting in the car right now. 

It's snowing outside again, but it is supposed to be 48 degrees tomorrow which is nice to anticipate. It's been a long time since we've seen 48 degrees. Because of the break in the weather, Tim's going to work on his car. It needs an inner tie rod end, and he's got what he needs. He's got the tool he needs. He's all set. 



Saturday, February 1, 2025

Every Action has an Opposite and Equal Reaction

Trump's remarks during a press conference about the plane crash were, as usual, a blame game. At this point, it is the fault of the Democrats and DEI. 


A friend posted her own response: "Right. Because all pilots fly with their genitals!" I said, "That's why they call it a cockpit."

You gotta laugh. 

25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico start tomorrow, supposedly. 10% on China. Supposedly this is about fentanyl, but the crazy thing is that most of the stuff used to make fentanyl is coming from China. But...I suppose this makes sense to someone. 

Canada responded:


So did the Stock Market, unfortunately. 

Enough about that. 

Yesterday was the disposition, and we went to that. We were not asked to speak during the actual session, but we did make it clear that we didn't want the focus to be on punishment. The kid has had a hard life. We wanted to see him given an opportunity to turn things around. We were pleased to discover that he's no longer in his home. A sister has taken over. She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. He's enrolled in on-line school, and has been assessed and held back a year. He's also gotten a job. It sounds as if everything is in line to give him every opportunity to succeed, and we were glad for that. 

When we were finished, I drove up to Mattie's. She'd asked if I could drive her into town. I said yes. The roads were slushy and slippery, and it really isn't a good idea to bring a buggy onto a heavily trafficked road in conditions like that. 

I was amazed to see all the kids out and playing in the snow. Amos had a pony hooked up to a sled, which was pulling Rudy. A 20 foot rope went from the sled to Reuben who was on a snowboard. It was an amazing thing to see. He was flying from one bank to another, picking up speed on the way down, the momentum carrying him across the road and up the other bank. He was jumping that board and nailing his landing. I'm not sure how in the world he managed to keep his straw hat on, but he did. In the driveway, one of the girls was pulling David around. Another girl was carrying a pair of cross country skis back to the house. I got a kick out of watching them. 

I had appointments today. Tim needed the car, so today, I drove my car for the first time since July, when Tim got hit in it. It sounds strange, but this is the first time that we've needed two cars in an awfully long time. It was kind of nice to be back in my own vehicle. It drove just as nicely as if ever did. Stupid little things though: I couldn't remember how to turn on the heated seats. The wiper controls are different. I got it figured out, but it made me laugh to think that my old familiar car seemed so unfamiliar. 

My brother-in-law caught someone trying to steal from him. He sent him packing, but everyone knows who to watch out for now. That makes Tim and I a little bit nervous about our house across the road. Tim had been working on the Wayne St house for the day, since I was not there to help, but he wanted to go down to the new house, to check on things and also to put the motion detector lights on. We've got a lot of family in the area, and five floodlights would make it easier to see if there was someone prowling around at night. 

We don't get there every single day now, so we have made a point of always making sure the cats have plenty of dry food and water set out so that we know they won't be hungry. They get canned cat food to supplement every time that we go there, at least 5 times a week. So I headed down to the garage with the cans. Since it was after dark, they were all inside, and they came when I called, all four of them. Tiger, Sigh, and Possum were very affectionate today, and I had my hands full petting cats. Minnie, as usual, watched, but seemed to sit a lot closer to the action. 

So that was today. 

I am woefully behind on reading blogs, but I'll get caught up this weekend. Keep on keeping on! 

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Another Day

 Yesterday was my falling apart day, I guess. I was really discouraged. Today is better. I mean, what choice do we have? We keep on keeping on, and we keep an eye on the people around us. Help where we can. Encourage where we can. 



And avoid watching the news. I read it. I don't watch it. 



So...yesterday, we worked on the house, and corrected the problems with the stairs. Tim called the woman, and she came back today. She did not look at the stairs. She didn't even go into the basement. But, we passed, and they will send our C.O. (certificate of occupancy) in the mail. It still amazes us both that we haven't even got the water run yet, but...the inspections are done. We're not arguing. 

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We're bringing the air compressor back from the new house and taking it to the rehab. We'll start back to work on the Wayne St house bathroom. 

While we are at the new house, we'll take care of the cats. Tim is pretty sure it is a coyote circling the garage. It has returned. We've seen his tracks in the snow. The good news is that he's too large to get into the garage, so the kittens are safe as long as they are inside. It seems as if the critter is coming either early or late. The cats do go out during the day. We see their footprints out and about. We just make sure that they have plenty of dry food and water. It is warm inside the garage, and they have a safe place to hide. I am sure they can hear him prowling around outside, but they have very good instincts. Still, I can't wait until we are up there. Just being there all the time will keep that coyote out of the yard. It will also help in the cat domestication project, which has taken a big step backward. Only Possum comes to be petted now. The others do not even come at feeding time, waiting until we are gone. 

On the way back home, we'll also run up on the hill and buy eggs from my niece who sells them for $3 a dozen. We're pretty lucky to have a bunch of cluckin' chicken folks in the family. Buying them in Aldi's, they are $5.15 a dozen. I know we're getting off cheap compared to a lot of you (*coff* Allison and Jim) 

Didn't he promise to bring egg prices down? I thought he said that. 

Anyways, we probably will not get a lot done on the house tomorrow, because after we get back from our running, we will go to the court to hear the disposition re: one of the boys that broke our window out. We just feel like we should be there. We don't even know for sure what we will say or do. Or even if we should say or do anything. But, we will wait and see what happens. 

The solicitous victim's advocate called from her office to offer to be with us in the court room if we needed her. I mean, gads...a window got broken. It was not like we were physically assaulted by a group of them. There's no trauma involved. Just a sense that this boy needs someone in his corner. Maybe all we're meant to do is speak with him. Again, don't know. 

Then I suppose, when that is done, we'll go get some actual work done for a couple hours. 

Friday will be another lost day, given over to appointments. I have a feeling we'll be working this weekend. 

After Tim got back from the inspection, we had errands to run around town, and it was a good day to do it. It was above freezing, and it actually felt warm and breezy, as if spring was moving in, even though we know that winter is not yet over. This is a very changeable time of the year. 

The order to rescind the federal funding freeze also lifted my heart, even though I know that, like winter, tRUMP and his merry band of predators are not done yet. Like the weather, this administration changes with the wind. 

Laugh of the day: 





Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Discouraged

The news is so discouraging. The word is that funds will continue to be held until the agencies affected align themselves with tRUMP policies. 

Isn't that called blackmail?

I'm just weary of it all, and just sick about all the children that will be affected by these actions. And it has just begun. That's the most depressing part. 

If you feel like doing a small kindness, there's this. If you can't read it, a local school is collecting post cards from all fifty states. The states that they need are Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, Michigan, Arkansas, Rhode Island and Kansas. 

The Address is Tidioute Charter School

                         Ms. Runyan's 3rd Grade

                          241 Main St

                          Tidioute, PA 16351


Sorry. That's all I have today. It's hard to watch, but we all knew that it was going to happen. Keep an eye out for people who are struggling. That's all we can do. Focus on each other. 

Monday, January 27, 2025

Success And Failure

 Tim had warned me that he wanted to get to the new house before inspection. He wanted to sweep and vacuum and pretty things up. I was okay with that. 

Much to my surprise, this morning he walked into the bedroom fully dressed and said, "I'm leaving in 15 minutes," and walked back out. 

Now, this is something that Tim and I have discussed multiple times before. I need to know what's going on ahead of time. I mean, I am jarred from a sound sleep, and it's not that he wants me to get ready to go...it's that he is going in 15 minutes. Even if I skip a shower, there is no way for me to get dressed and presentable, AND have a chance to make coffee and have a bite of breakfast all in 15 minutes. There was absolutely no need for that kind of abruptness. 

I got out of bed and said, "We'll see you later." 

He said, "You're not going?"

I said, "If you'd have given me some sort of heads up about when you wanted to leave, I would have set my alarm, which would have allowed me time to get myself ready. I would have made sure that I was ready. But...you got up, got yourself ready, had your breakfast, and then told me you were leaving in 15 minutes. That's not enough time, so no. I'm not going."

He left. 

So. I had a day to myself. I had a leisurely breakfast, drank my coffee while cruising blogs, got up, pickled some ginger, made another batch of wheat hamburger buns. This time, I put about an inch of water in my crock pot, set it to 'warm' and set the cookie sheet on top of it. The buns rose perfectly, which made me very happy. So. It is a temperature thing. Good to know. Good to know. 

We had them tonight, with venison burger wrapped around a thick slice of onion, and sauteed peppers.  Tim had potatoes with his. I had a tossed salad. 

So. That was my success.

The house failed the inspection, and it really irritates me. You know what did not pass? The stairs to the basement. There has to be a 'bullnose', meaning that the tread has to extend forward slightly to overhang the rise. 

The reason that this irks me so much is that the house has been inspected twice since the basement stairs were installed, and this has not ever been commented on. Not once. Instead, they wait for everything to be enclosed and finished, and NOW they are going to complain about the stair treads? 

So...there will be some ripping out done. 

So. I'm irked. (I feel as if I might not have made that part clear.)

But I wasn't there for the inspection, and Tim is irked too, but he irks differently than me. 

Anyways, so while I was home, I made a day of it. Taking the tree down always leads to a complete ripping apart of the livingroom, and a thorough vacuuming. I moved furniture. I vacuumed cushions and removed them and vacuumed the sofas too. I got everything put back together and felt very productive, and continued my way down the hall, dusting and vacuuming as I went. 

Tim came home and we both shared a moment of irked-ness. 

Outrage of the day:

Trump has suggested that the Proud Boys might have a place in politics: 

https://whyy.org/articles/trump-proud-boys-capitol-rioters-pardon/

For balance, Laughs for today.





Sunday, January 26, 2025

The bread doesn't rise. Again.

 I made rolls today and was much disappointed that they did not raise. Boy, I've been having a time with that. I'm not sure what's going on. I got new yeast and everything. 

I gave up my sour dough starter. I did not see the bubbles that they claimed I should be seeing. Of course, it was during the cold snap, and frankly, my kitchen is not 70 degrees, the recommended temperature for 'growing' starter. So, I scraped it out into the trash, and much to my horror, it was only then that I got a whiff of sour that I'd expected. There was quite a bit of bubbling going on under the surface. It probably was just taking longer because my kitchen was cooler! I made up my mind to try again when it is warm. 

To be having difficulty with sourdough AND yeast breads just leaves me flat. 

(Ahem.)

I sadly looked at my poor unrisen rolls and went ahead and flattened them down and put them on a parchment covered cookie sheet and made 'sandwich thins'. Those turned out great, and they were much cheaper than buying them, that's for sure. 

Tomorrow is the final inspection of our house. We are excited to get that part of things finished and done. It is at 11 AM. We'll probably just continue working on the house as long as we are there, but Tuesday, we'll return to the Wayne St rehab. I will be glad when these two projects are done. 

I did finally get my tree down and put away, which is a little embarrassing to admit, but I've had a lot of appointments and we've been doing a lot of work. Still, I don't think my tree has ever been up for this length of time. 

I hope you all are stocked up on coffee. 

Laugh of the day: 




Boud

 I want to direct you to something.  https://fieldfen.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-shadbush-shad-and-gift-economy.html It is written by Boud, wh...