Catching up.

My God. 

Hegseth:

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric

Trump appears to be rotting before our very eyes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/trump-rash-neck.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwdGRjcAQUZ1hleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR4OzIbz3AnD7FOq4ZCyLHTJSFYrJVngUHnRN68CcyF6HysoJzAc-FFv6GTtcQ_aem_NUkYi-7cBz4hR5H7ablarA

Gas went up 20 cents a gallon over night.

I am a bit overwhelmed by the big picture lately. I am sure everyone is. 

In local news:

I had a trip planned to spend time with my son and his family. The weekend before I left I got hit with quite an intestinal bug. I will spare you details, but I really, really was afraid that I would have to delay the trip. 

I got over myself the day before I was supposed to leave. 

I strongly advise any overwhelmed person to borrow some kids to rebalance your soul. 

The youngest wanted me to come to her art show. I wanted to see it. She was so proud. She likes to give gifts. A painted rock last time. This time it was a plastic heart on a keychain she'd won at preschool. She brings these things to you in cupped hands as if she is presenting you a treasure, and the only response is to cup your own hands, and to receive her offering with due reverence. I immediately clipped that heart to my purse and assured her that I will love it always.  I will, too. Her art show was grand and I loved watching her confidently striding around her preschool showing us around. 

The oldest is 7 and we have our own little thing. Our fairy tea parties have become increasingly fancy.  Her six fairies gather around a table set with fancy miniature china. They carry on polite fairy conversations as quiet fairy music plays in the background. We sit in the middle of her room and have the most wonderful imaginary adventures. The last evening, the fairies, all six of them, told me how sad they were that I was leaving. I told them that we would have a grand party when I returned and that I would have tiny fairy gifts for all of them. My grand daughter was thrilled at the thought of a party of this caliber. She lined them all up in a row to bid me farewell, and I promised to miss them all until we met once again. Then they went back on her window sill, all in their assigned place.

Such sweetness. 

My son and his wife got two date nights in a row. 

I hit their Amish store, which is huge. They had, of all things cranberries. You know, I had to resort to canned cranberry sauce at Christmas. I could not find the bags of berries to save my soul. After Christmas, I usually buy them up when they are heavily discounted. The bags are tossed in the freezer and pulled out one at a time. I like cranberry relish on my toast. I like it stirred into my homemade yogurt. At 35 cents a bag, a dozen of those went into my cart as quick as a wink. Tim likes blueberries and they had pints of organic blueberries for 75 cents. I also love their cheeses. So many different kinds. 5 lbs of cheese made its way into the cart ss well. No meat this time. We really have so much venison, pork and poultry in the freezer. A good problem to have, to be sure.

My daughter in law showed me how to make tortillas. An old dog learned a new trick. We had a beautiful day. We got in a family hike. We tried to fly a kite. We went out for lunch. We did crafts.  

it was a beautiful weekend, and I needed that. 

Funny story: the morning I was supposed to leave. I could not find my car keys. My oldest granddaughter said 'I hope uou don't find them and you can't go home!' It was so heartfelt that it really touched my heart. It also made me wonder if she hid them. (She had not. They had fallen out of my coat pocket in their car. )

I am once again home. 

It was too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse. We started the day with freezing rain. 

My sister is coming over to make tortillas with me Sunday. We are going to have fajitas.

I found a cream colored lurex sweater to deconstruct and make weave my moon for my planned weaving. 

I got a letter from gz, which was exciting.

I got the perfect haircut.

If it wasn't for the fact that we have a lunatic for president, life would be pretty okay.

I am behind in blogs. I will have to catch up.

Productive

 This morning, I got up and went to the gym. Tim did not go today. He is siding the garage. He had an appointment at 1 to get new tires on the car for my trip to see the kids and my granddaughters. 

So off I went to class. I got there early enough to do my mile before class started. I did my class and came home.

I have been on mighty productive streak lately. I got a pan out and sautéed green, red and yellow peppers along with some red (purple!) onion. I added some venison. Tossed in garlic and Adobe paste, some jalapeño tomato sauce. I cleaned as I went. When the rice cooker beeped, I added the rice. It sure made a pretty dish.

Tim walked in as I put the finishing touches on things. I said, "Want me to make corn bread to go with the rice tonight?"

He looked at me in amazement. "We are going out for supper. We are taking William out for his birthday."

I am so productive, I already have supper made for tomorrow. 

Thursday

 Well. Life is sure a mixed bag, isn't it?

It has been a warm week and the snow is melting off rapidly. 

For Christmas, my daughter-in-law sent me a bag of daffodil bulbs. I set them outside in a snow bank, with the idea to let them winter for a couple months, and then bring them inside to make an early spring for myself. Probably makes everyone in the UK laugh. Seems like you had daffodils within a month of Christmas. They are not something we see until well into March. 

Anyway, the snow melted off enough that I finally saw those bulbs again, so I went to the greenhouse and got four large terracotta pots, scooped some gravel in the bottom, filled them with potting soil, and planted six bulbs in each pot.

It was nice working in the sun. A 50 degree day. Possum wound around my legs, and tolerated some petting. 

I wonder what cats know. Yesterday, my sister messaged me that a cat had been killed on the road. It was pouring rain, but by the time we got there, something had made away with it. The circle of life and all of that. Tim had heard the bald eagle screaming from that direction, but it just as easily could have been a fox or a coyote. Although I did not see him, my guess would be that it was Dusty. He was not around at dinnertime.

So, I petted Possum, and wondered what she knew. Maybe nothing. Maybe I just have a fanciful imagination.

So now we are down to two ferals, from the original 12. Five went to new homes. You can only help a cat (or a person, for that matter) as much as they will allow you to.

Once my planting was done, I set the bag of bulbs against the house foundation. Once the snow melts off, I will plant them along side the northern side of the house.

I invited Possum inside. She politely declined my invitation.

So I cleaned the kitchen. Cleared the counters, oiled the butcher block and cutting boards. scrubbed the tile. Polished the  stainless. Replaced everything slightly rearranged. 

The wind picked up and I opened doors and a couple windows as I worked, vacuuming, tidying, sorting. It felt like spring.

Andrew, the man formerly known as 'Prince' is arrested. I hope he comes to the realization that it is never too late to begin to behave with honor. The best thing he could do for this world is spill it. All of it. Names. Details. Tell the story. 

I think the whole world will feel better once we know. No matter how awful, we can deal with the criminals and move on. 

My niece posted today. She says that anyone who discusses sexuality with a first grader is a pedophile. Three observations. The first: my granddaughters know about their bodies, proper terminology. Age appropriate. Their mother is a nurse. Second observation: it is not part of any first grader's school curriculum. Third observation: trumpers have zero right to call anyone a pedophile.

That's it really. 

Hi Sophie

 Sophie reached out to give me a little nudge from the other side of the world.

Yes I am still here. 

Holding my breath about Minnesota: The surge is supposed to be ending, but...

The Epstein stuff is horrible. 

Bondi's behavior at the congressional hearings is shocking, really. 

Kudos to Senator Ted Lieu:

Khanna and Massie have been heroic. Massie posted this on twitter:

'@RepThomasMassie

I am not suicidal. I eat healthy food. The brakes on my car and truck are in good shape. I practice good trigger discipline and never point a gun at anyone,  including myself. There are no deep pools of water on my farm and I’m a pretty good swimmer.'

It would be interesting to know what prompted this.

Tim and I protested Saturday. The weather was in the 40s, so it was a wonderful change from the earlier weeks of single digit temperatures. There were the ubiquitous middle fingers. There was one 'You all need to get jobs' (which made us all laugh.) The small dicks with big trucks gunned their engines menacingly. But there was a lot of honking and waving and thumbs up. A LOT.

There was one great moment. A little car with roof mounted airhorns has been driving by for the past few weeks blaring his horns. We assumed he was an 'unfriendly'. This week he drove by again, blaring his horns. It was warm enough that his windows were down . His arm shot out to give us a thumbs up and he cheered us on. 

The Peace Marchers made it to Washington DC and were welcomed by Rev Marianne Budde, who has her own history of speaking truth to power. I read about their meeting. This resonated: 'Peace begins where you stand.' 

So it has been a week that feels different, but I am still holding my breath.

Closer to home: 3 deer come in to eat the corn we leave. Enough snow has melted that they can now nibble grass where Tim plowed.

We have a new cat showing up to eat. He comes to the porch at night when the others are gone. He looks like he could be related to our ferals. Has a black and white face, a large black mask covering 1/2 his face, white on the other. I call him 'Phantom'. Like Phantom of the Opera.

Tomorrow I have my first stained glass lesson. I have a batch of 150 year old stained glass from a demo'd church in Pittsburgh. I am looking forward to learning something new.

A warm week is forecast. I will be able to retrieve my daffodil bulbs and plant them for an early spring inside. One pot for me. One pot for my sister and one pot will go with me when I go to my son's house at the end of the month. I am so looking forward to seeing my granddaughter.

My grandson will be turning 15 this week. 

My Christmas cactus is blooming for the second time, a nice surprise

I am posting this without proofreading. It has taken forever to load this post tonight. 

Good night all.

Oh crap! I forgot this. Brian Bilston

This and that.

 When I woke up at 3 am. It was -13°. It may well have gotten colder, but I slept through it, but that was the end of our cold snap, thank goodness. The temperature rose 44 degrees in 12 hours  hitting 31 degrees. It felt positively balmy! Tomorrow it is expected to reach the 40s, the first time in 27 days that the temps have gotten above freezing. 

Superbowl came and went. The Seahawks won, which made Tim happy. The nation survived the Bad Bunny half time show. People were upset though.

Speaking of Epstein,Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions today, citing her Fifth Amendment Rights. She also said she would very much like to answer questions and would do so if trump grants her clemency.  

Maybe it is just me, but if a woman refuses to answer questions because she doesn't want to incriminate herself, the last thing she deserves is clemency. 

The protest was freezing Saturday. Single digits temperatures. As it went on, the wind began to pick up and the cold was even colder. We all agreed it was even colder in Minneapolis and we owed them that.

If you have never seen 'The US and the Holocaust' on PBS, it is worth your time. We took notice of is the methods used to install an authoritarian government quickly. We also noted the simultaneous rise of Christian Nstionalism in the US. The parallels were shocking. We have seen this before. The only difference is that this time the autocratic leader is our own. 

Still here.

This was supposed to have gone at the end of this post, but it did not. So...I guess we will lead with it. After gym, Tim likes to go to Burger King. It seems counter to my own goals, so I walk across the street to the Goodwill. Today I thought to look for a couple extra pair of sweatpants to give myself the luxury of doing laundry once a week instead of twice a week. I found what I needed in fairly short order. As I waited to check out, I saw this. It was ridiculous and unnecessary.

But I just loved it. 

As our Miss Merry would say, "I accidently brought it home."

 It is snowing again. 25°, which isn't awful but it is still below freezing. It has not risen above freezing for over 3 weeks now. This weekend  is supposed to be especially brutal. One night is supposed to be -8°. Once we get through that, though, we will finally get a break. Temperatures in the 30s and even the 40s. 

Hallelujah.

It has been quiet here. Locally, anyway. The shit show rages on in the highest echelons, of course. 

I feel like I am holding my breath. Liam and his father released. DHS wants to take them back in custody and quickly deport them.

Intake of breath.

There were enough votes to force the Republicans to remove the long term funding of DHS. Once this was off the table, the budget was agreed to, which allowed the end of the government shutdown.

Good news.

DHS only has funding until Feb 13th.

To get a yes vote, there are 10 safeguards being requested to rein in ICE.

Democrats outline demands to Republicans to rein in ICE 

 https://share.google/ICIDHNQps972VEs42

Will it hold? Will they cave to pressure? Once again, I am holding my breath.

While there is plenty to cheer: 

Minnesota does not disappoint. Bonnie from Minneapolis sent me a beautiful accounting on events. It needs to be copied an pasted here, but I can't seem to be able to do it. I need to get myself to the library. I have not managed this. Hopefully tomorrow when I go to town to protest.

It is a busy weekend: after the protest, I have to get home to make cinnamon rolls. We have a fundraiser Saturday night. Sunday after gym, we are headed out with those cinnamon rolls to have dinner with friends followed by the Superbowl. 

(As usual, I cannot possibly be less interested in the game.)

This afternoon was spent chopping 3 quarts of bell peppers. Unbelievably they were $1.99 each which made me quite sure we would be doing without. When I saw a basket of past-their-prime peppers at 2 for a dollar. I snapped of 8 of those for the freezer. I slice some for fajitas and stir fries and chop some for regular cooking. 

Milk generally costs $5 a gallon or thereabouts, but since we were in New York state, we stopped and  bought milk.  Their state subsidizes it, to make it affordable for the poor. It is half the price we pay here. I brought 3 gallons and for the first time in a long time, made homemade yogurt. 

Magic

 I woke up just before 3:30 this morning,and made my way out of bed to the bathroom. 

What a beautiful sight out the window! It is -1° out there, very cold, but the full moon shown so brightly that the snow was reflecting that light back, glittering like stars fallen to the ground. The black cloudless sky held tightly to the stars that had not fallen. 

Magical. No other word for it. 

I made my way back to bed, but my mind was all over the place tonight. After an hour, I finally gave up and made my way to the kitchen to brew my morning cup. 

I am curled up on the couch in the dark with my coffee and two biscotti. Two cat silhouettes stand gazing out the sliding glass doors studying the outside as if they can feel the magic too.

These are such awful times. When we find a bit of magic we need to savor it.

Not my photo. A local woman, Sheila Flory, took it. 

Not 'Nothing'

This was fun.

 

Minneapolis is doing it, aren't they? 

By the way, the stories of the two mothers is being recounted unfairly. You can read about both cases. If you are MAGA, you won't though. You'll just parrot what you are fed right along with the rest of the good MAGA crowd.

Bruce wrote a song on January 27th, recorded it on the 28th. It is number 1 in 19 countries.

He is in Minneappolis right now, playing a concert with Tom Morello. 

The White House is trying to downplay this as a big old nothing burger. It doesn't feel like nothing to me. 

It Could be Worse

 It all started with the Suburu. It needed to be inspected. Tim made the appointment and took it in. I went off in another direction with my own errands. I finished off by going to gym and then headed for home. 

Tim was not home, but I did not expect him to be. He had called with the unfortunate news that the car needed a ball joint. He had replaced one, but thought the other one would pass. It is a hard job. The last one took a while to replace because it was so rusted. He decided to let the garage handle the replacement this time around. He called to tell me that he would not be home any time soon probably.

Imagine my surprise when Tim opened the door for me. 

Turned out that in removing the ball joint, damage had been done. Another part needed to be ordered. The garage drove Tim home. 

Ah well, as the story goes: 'It could be worse.'

We still had my car. And the truck. The new old truck, anyway, the 'old' old truck having a tarped load of 200 4 x 8 sheets of hardy backer board that Lowe's had clearanced out for a mere $2.39 a sheet a 90% discount.

We got our snow storm the next day. It was then that the hydraulic pump on the tractor went. This was a huge blow. The tractor was our snow mover.

Bring out the shovels. 

Except Tim had a plow for the old dump truck. He switched out the battery, and amazingly it fired up. He hooked up the snow plow, and plowed. 

That night he found the part he needed on ebay, and I ordered the $400 part for him. He said, 'Lucky we had the dump truck.'

Yes. He was right. It certainly could have been worse.

Except the very next day, the starter went in the dump truck. 

Tim placed an order for a $200 part from Rock Auto. The snow had pretty much let up. He said, 'Ah well. The next storm is not due in until the weekend. By then. One of those parts should be in by that time. Until then, we just drive the 'new' old truck."

Such a sensible idea. The truck sits higher than the car, and if we ran into trouble. It also had 4 wheel drive. His solution was perfectly sensible. It could after all, be worse.

Until, the very next morning, when the truck would not start. Tim popped the hood and began testing this part and that and. Unbelievably, once again, this truck also needed a starter.

We were down to one vehicle unless we wanted to unload 200 sheets of hardy backer board. Lord knows where we could put it. It was supposed to siding on the garage when we got a break in the weather.

At that point, I put my foot down. More money or not, we needed to take my car (our last driveable vehicle) to Titusville and get a starter for that truck. We had another storm due in. 

Except...When we got to the parts store, they explained that year truck had two different possible starters. He would have to bring the starter in to figure out what starter he needed.

Of course. 

But, once again, we were saved. The garage called and the Suburu was fixed. What perfect timing. It is all wheel drive and can handle snow better than my car.

Just to prove it , my car slipped sideways in the snow and got stuck. 

It could be worse, I suppose. We might not have had a brother-in-law with a big truck to plow us out. Once plowed, Tim was able to back my car out of the snow bank. Also, the starter for the dump truck arrived today.

An old post with a sad update.

This column is about 11 years old:

Long ago, there was a girl who left for Afghanistan. While she worked at the university there, she met a cat, Maki, a large Afghan street cat who had been picked up so many times by the Nowzad animal shelter for getting his butt kicked by other Afghan street cats that the shelter finally did not return him to the street. They got tired of treating his wounds.

When Cara went to the shelter, Maki saw her from across a crowded room, marched square over and climbed up next to her. She felt that the cat had chosen her. She decided to choose him. 

When Cara and I were in New Orleans about six years ago, we stayed in an artist's home, and she had a portrait of her golden retriever painted in the manner of a religious icon. Cara thought it was hilarious.

When I came back, I contacted an artist that I know and commissioned a portrait of Mack for Cara's Christmas gift. 

                                              I'd found a portrait of the Emir of Caubal

and had Mack painted in the same manner. 

Ellen, being a gentle soul fell in love with the story of Maki, and to this day says that he is one of her top selling prints. A percentage of her Maki sales goes back to the Nowzad animal shelter.

It is a funny thing to think of Mack these days. He is actually a citizen of Great Britain now and is currently wintering in Tlibisi, Georgia...this after summering in Spain, which happened after a year in the UK with stops along the way in France and Switzerland.  He has learned to unzip tents in Italy, and sometimes the campers there left notes and gifts for him when they decamped. His picture hangs in the homes of people we will never know.

Ellen published a book of her work and I bought an autographed copy for each of the grandchildren. Much to my surprise, Mack was in it.

He's come a very long way from the war torn violence of Kabul's streets, hasn't he?

Today, January 27th. 2026, old Maki passed away in the arms of the girl who loved him, held to the window of the orangery so that he could look out at the beloved garden he'd spent so much time in. 17 years ago, he was born in the  streets of Kabul, Afghanistan. He died a British aristocat. 

Quite A Weekend

 

First of all, I want to provide a link to Fresca's l'astronave. As a protester on the ground in Minneapolis, her insights are invaluable.

I am not going to post the video. The gun was in a holster. Pretti was licensed to legally carry. The videos taken from all directions show him filming with his camera while reaching down ro help a woman who had been knocked to the ground by ICE. Agents gassed them both. Pretti still held his phone. His empty hand was held in front of him. Agents shouted "He has a gun". The gun was taken by an agent in a gray ICE jacket. Only after that did the shots ring out.

According to the Star Tribune, witnesses were rounded up 'for their safety and protection'.

In Court Filings, Witnesses Describe Fatal Minneapolis Shooting

 https://share.google/i7aXruNwQQwKibYuz

Despite this, Kristi Noem immediately claimed the agents had been rushed by Pretti brandishing a weapon. Trump immediately began referring to Pretti as 'an animal'. The MAGA faithful claim the video plainly justifies ICE actions.

It doesn't.

Alex Pretti's parents spoke.

 https://share.google/pVa7hFNqdGqQlqdvV

Even the NRA spoke up, and lord knows, it has been forever since they have said anything I agreed with.

 https://share.google/XJftcbPC7ydYqteXV

Remember that the Revolutionary War was ignited by the Boston Massacre. The British fired into a crowd of protesters. 

A lot going on, so:

Weatherwise: still snowing. The hydraulic pump on the tractor chose this moment to quit. New pump ordered. $400  and a week will get that taken care of. Unfortunately, the snow was not willing to hold off. Fortunately, the man who has shit stashed everywhere had a snowplow to put on the dump truck. So we were saved from shoveling.. I made home made pizza instead.

It is still snowing. There is probably a foot on the ground.

The Storm Approaches

Steve over at Shadows and Light noted that he can't reply to comments on his blog. At this point, I am having the same issue. My apologies to the missed comments. I tried. 

It was cold this morning. Single digits. After all the uncertainty, it seems the weatherman are agreed. Tomorrow is supposed to be another cold windy day. The storm proper is supposed to hit Saturday night and go through Monday morning. They are calling for a foot of snow.

The gas has stayed steady. The house is warm. Since this cold snap is the first prolonged test of the new regulator, we have decided to stick close to home this weekend just to keep an eye on things. 

No protesting tomorrow.

The day started at the gym, back home. Tim went into town to take care of a tenant issue and some banking. I kept myself busy hanging pictures that have been leaned against the wall since August. I didn't want to hang anything until I was certain of furniture. I guess it is as settled as it is going to get.

Mattie had sent along a box of freezer containers that Levi had picked up at auction. That was a fine gift. Probably came from someone's cellar. I put them all to soak in hot water and then wrote a thank you to Mattie for thinking of me. I gave everything a run through the dishwasher to sterilize it.

I have a pot of beans soaking. Chili is a good storm meal. It is -5°F right now.

I can't comment on current events right now. A 5 year old child. And still there are those noble minds standing in the middle, yelping about both sides, unwilling to simply say it: using a five year old child as bait is wrong. That handcuffeing someone who was following the rules, who was in the middle of processing is wrong. That putting a child in a detention center is wrong....

But no. 

Tasker has been much on my mind today 

Keeping Up Appearances

On 'class day' at the gym, I generally get there early. I get the equipment I need for the class, find a chair, get set up and then use the time before class to walk laps. I can get about a half mile in before class.

I am not the only person who does this and another woman and I sometimes walk together. She is a fast walker too, and we tend to 'lap' people, coming up on slower walkers, and passing them without comment. 

Last week, we passed a guy. I don't know him but he seems to know everyone else. He is a talker. Anyways. As we passed, he made some comment to my walking partner that I didn't really attend to. 

Then much to my surprise, he spoke to me, calling me 'crazy hair'. 

This is interesting to me. 

One thing that I have noticed is that a lot of women come to their classes with neatly styled hair, full makeup. Jewelry and cute little workout clothes. 

Then there is me, I suppose. My hair is combed but truth be told, it needed to be cut. I had an appointment. I imagine that by the end of class, I probably looked a sight. I just never bothered to look. I don't wear makeup because (to call a spade a spade) I sweat. I am not wearing jewelry. My workout clothes are a pair of sweatpants and a baggy tee-shirt.

I just find myself coming back to that comment and wondering why a man would call out something like that to a woman he doesn't even know. 

Anyway.

Supper is planned, recipe sent to myself.

We got through the cold snap. It is lightly snowing and very windy. Another storm moving in. The weather folks are not giving any estimates on snow amounts. The official quote seems to be 'it all depends...'

In the time honored tradition, we will pick up a gallon of milk after gym. We do not need bread or toilet paper.

This morning, I woke up early. I finally just gave up and got up. While I was making my coffee, I became aware of a plane. It sounded very low. Maybe it was a trick of the cloud cover. I don't know. I stood there at the coffee pot, listening. Both Freddie and Houdi stopped and stood staring curiously at the southern windows.

It suddenly struck me how surreal it is to be living in a time where a situation like this immediately leads to thoughts of 'dear heavens, who has he pissed off now?'

One last comment: Chris in the UK sent me a link in yesterday's comments. You know, Chris, I appreciate that. We are carefully vetting our news sources, and I am sorry to say, I get a far more accurate idea of what is going on from foreign news agencies. Gwynneth does a great job of that too. I welcome it, and am grateful. 

Indeed

 No good deed is too small to matter.

Today was so windy. We did make it to the gym. We needed milk and needed to go to town, so as long as we were there, we figured we might as well hit the gym. We carefully made our way there through snowsqualls and whiteouts and little swirling snow-nados dancing across the fields.

I will take the cold. Some areas north of the New York line are slated to get 55-70 inches of snow in this storm.

I talked with a local organization. They were enthusiastic about working with us for next year's toy give-away. They wanted to work with us as soon as they saw the write-ups in the paper. She guarantees, at a minimum, 300 toys. She also hooked me up with a contact that might enable us to add bikes to the giveaway. 

I am just so amazed at how an entire community has caught this vision. It is a nice counterbalance to the shitshow unfolding around us.

Short One

The protest was well attended despite the  cold. 

My sign said 'when our government starts quoting Nazis, we all need to speak up.' Tim's said, 'Christian Nationalism is not Christianity. Jesus wept"

It feels good to be with like minds. We got quite a bit of support from the cars passing by.

We also got the expected blowback. But this time, it seemed angrier. A woman approached us on foot screaming. "I am sorry you hate America." Drivers shouted obscenities. We waved cheerfully. We will be there next week.

Another gold medal:

 

Reasons to Celebrate

Today's shame was an American president accepting another leader's Nobel Peace prize, beaming with pride as if it actually did honor his work.🤡 (In case you didn't know, it doesn't.) He is like a child with a sparkly bauble. 

This story made me laugh.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/karoline-leavitt-fumed-protesters-flipping-102422682.html

 My kids loved this book and -ahem!- I do a very good Grover imitation. Just a thing you may not know about Debby.

I just thought you needed to know that book to understand this book, The Monster at the End of the End of the File. By Jeff Whitcher

A woman on Facebook reads it. I wish I could share. The reader's FB name is lyndseydotw

Also:

If you have Instagram and do not mind swearing, you can always begin following My Cluck Hut. Just a tip: they are a soap company and their motto is: "if you are not a fascist and you wash your ass, our soap is for you." Their videos are hilarious.

We have had people outside the country believing that things seem worse. In my opinion, they sure are. But the more outrageous this gets, the more it galvanizes people to stand up and speak out.  That's exactly what is happening: more and more people are coming off the sideline. However, it is ugly. It is likely to get uglier.

All that to say, Tim and I believe that when your government starts quoting Nazis, we all better get off our behinds. We have committed to weekly demonstrations. It is encouraging to spend time with like minds. It is encouraging to get more people cheering us on from their cars. We have seen examples of increasingly hostile behavior, but they are the teensiest minority. We stand fast.

If you are feeling hopeless, find something to laugh at. Heaven knows we have the best comics on 'our' side. Share that humor. Be an encourager. Don't give up. 

Things to be celebrated here: I have been having the worst trouble with bread, mostly because I have been trying new recipes. Yesterday, I went back to tried and true 🥳 Excellent results and Tim got cinnamon rolls.

Remember the successful toy giveaway before Christmas? There is a huge push to do it next year. A local storage company stepped up and offered a free storage unit for two months. They have offered to be a drop off site, so that people can drop of the toys for the entire six weeks before the event. We had such a great response but drop off was one day, and the giveaway was the following day. Extending the collection from one day to six weeks is going to be huge. I have a couple of other ideas percolating as well. Huge satisfaction out of that.

Princess dresses for the little princesses. That always makes me happy.

We did not get the lake effect snow we were were warned about. That was good news.  

I can't be with her but my youngest will be turning 36.  I will celebrate her anyway.

What are you celebrating today? 

Fear not.

TJ Sabula's words: "i don't feel as though fate looks upon you often and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity. Today, I think I did that."

Suspended Michigan autoworker who heckled Trump gets outpouring of donations | Michigan | The Guardian https://share.google/xtEHvoI9ltkLwohXO

$335,000 raised so far. 

The right calls out his uncivil behavior while defending an administration with a longstanding history of uncivil behavior. 

Just a thing i noticed.

Security breech leaks names, addresses, emails, background info on 4500 ICE agents. Big uproar. 

Of course, when there was not nearly the outrage over right-wing patriots as they 'swatted' democrats, leaking their information, protesting in front of their homes.

Just a thing I noticed.

Kids are outing their ICE daddies on Tik-Tok. That gives me hope for the future.

The US Department of Labor debuted a new slogan. One nation. One people. One heritage.  It has sparked some backlash.

Labor Dept. Debuts Similar Slogan To Famous Nazi Phrase - Comic Sands https://www.comicsands.com/labor-department-nazi-slogan

Kristi Noem displayed her own slogan. 'One of ours. All of yours.'

Kristi Noem 'One of ours, all of yours' controversy explained: Podium photo with Nazi quote goes viral https://share.google/p5ENfKVpcJC69JCTa

That is a threat. We are meant to be afraid. 

Don't be.

The Meeting of the Minds

This morning, we kind of waited around for the trapper, but we couldn't wait all day. We had a new chimney built for the house by the Amish, and Tim is anxious to get that up in the 'Golden Hours', defined in this instance as the warmest part of the day: afternoon but before it started to get dark

After waiting until nearly 10, we had to go. We needed to get to the gym. 

When we came home, I was delighted to see the  truck parked in front of the old house. "Drop me off," I said. "I will grab the mail while I am down here."

I made good use of my time while I waited. When I walked to the mailbox, I saw a bit of plastic flapping in the wind. I did a little digging and discovered a package that had been delivered who knows when. The snowplow going by on the road had effectively buried it.

So I dug our package out and rifled through the mail, and my patience was rewarded. After 15 minutes or so, he came walking around the corner of the old house.

The first thing I noticed is that he wasn't a kid. I would guess he was in his 60s. He greeted me cheerfully. I said, "I wanted to talk to you about your exchange with my husband yesterday." 

I could tell that he knew exactly what I was talking about but he said, "I didn't mean anything by it."

I said, "Maybe you didn't but let me be really clear. You are here because you were given permission to be here." I pointed to the two white trucks back at the gas well. "You are not the only one. The well tenders will be here. We have a seed collector who will be back there from time to time. We have grandchildren too, and let me tell you , the first time you say anything like that to one of them, you and I will go toe to toe."

He got mad then. "I would never talk like that to a kid!"

"You have no reason to be talking to anybody like that." 

"Well, he scared the shit out of me!"

"For ex-military, you don't seem to be very aware of your surroundings. The man did not sneak up on you. He walked right along the stream bank."

He snapped, "I know he wasn't sneaking up on me..." and glared.

I continued, "and as far as the ex-miltary stuff, that doesn't impress me much. That log cabin three doors down? That's my brother in law. He's ex-military. Two driveways down this way? That's my nephew. Injured in Iraq. Up on the hill there? That's another nephew. He did two tours in Afghanistan. Me, myself? I am ex-military too. So don't be pulling that card here."

He changed tactics then. "Listen, I am just a simple trapper..."

"Who needs to have some respect. If that kind of talk is ever repeated, you will not be permitted back."

He did apologize but he also said, "I thought this was S---------'s property!"

Mr ex-military not only has no awareness of his surroundings. Poor bastard can't read a plat map either.

"No," I said. "His property is behind ours."

He said, "well. I apologize. It won't happen again."

I said "I expect it won't," and headed up the hill with the mail. 

So...that's done.

Differences

 Today, when we got back from the Y, there was a strange truck parked in front of the old house. Tim was not alarmed. Either 'the seed collector' had gotten a new vehicle or it was a trapper we had previously allowed to trap. 

I know that some will consider that controversial. I do not have the stomach for trapping. Neither does Tim. That being said, probably between 1/4 to 1/3 of our property had been underwater when we bought it due to beaver activity.

Some folks believe that we have encroached on their territory. The truth is quite the opposite. There is a very large dam way back in woods at the back of an elderly couple's property. The thing is as tall as I am and as the water levels have risen and covered more and more of the property, the beaver have expanded the length of the dam. At this point it would be dangerous to remove in the normal way. As a person chipped away at the dam, the water would begin to rush through. The sheer volume would make it a hazardous endeavor, with a danger of being swept away and pulled under.

Because the beaver have lived an unbothered life, the colony has grown to the point that they had begun to migrate down stream. They set up housekeeping across the road at my sister and brother-in-law's where new dams were torn out again and again, because they were flooding the pasture. 

No doubt irritated by the constant interference, the beaver pulled up stakes and crossed under the bridge to our side of the road. We tore out their dams. It is not an easy job, and sometimes they rebuilt over night.

So. We permitted trapping. 

Anyway, Tim walked down to the creek to see who it was. I came in to make the coffee that I hadn't had time to make before the trip to the gym. 

Before long, Tim was back. "Yeah, it was the trapper." He hung up his coat. "I followed his tracks right in. He didn't hear me. I scared him." He pulled off his boots and set them in the boot tray. "He told me that was a good way to get myself shot..." 

I turned from the coffee pot. "Was he trying to be funny???!"

Tim said, "No. He was serious. Said he was ex-military..."

I was shocked. "He said that while he was standing on our property???!!!!"

Tim stared at me a little surprised. His mind works differently than mine. In his mind, the man was all bluff and bluster, and he did not take him seriously.

In my mind, when you have been granted a courtesy from a land owner you have a bit of respect. In my mind, I am sick of people pulling this ''I am ex-military" as if this training makes them something to handle carefully or as if they warrant extra respect. In my mind, it doesn't matter one whit if I think he would actually follow through or not. Do not try to bully or intimidate me or mine on my own place.

I said. "I am going down there to have a word. I am ex-military too if he wants to play that card."

Tim said, "He has gone."

I have been stewing over this all afternoon. It is probably good I had time to think. When I am mad, I have a tendency to run 'hot'. I may say things that I think better of later. Maybe that is what happened here. Maybe Tim did actually startle him. Maybe he just blurted something unfortunate. It happens. I understand that as well as anyone. 

Tim and I talked when he got back from some errand running.

"I am still upset about this morning and it is not something I am willing to overlook. What if he had said something like that to a grandson? We need to go to the gym early and get back early, because I am going to be waiting for that young man to check his line. I will give him a chance to explain himself, but if there is any bluff and bluster from him, I am telling him to pull his traps and get off this property." 

Tim looked at me mildly. "That's fine," he said.

Weekend's End

It is snowing outside. That is not a surprise, because the weather predicted it. However the weather also predicted that it was going to stop by 9 am. It was not supposed to be a 'snow event'. However, it did not stop snowing. It hasn't stopped snowing yet.

Tim was going to drop me off at the gym on his way to church. We had gone only a couple miles before we decided that this was not the best idea we ever had. There was sliding involved. 

So we came back home.

Our company decided to "keep his feet at home" as the Amish would say. He had let his woodstove go out and needed to be home to baby it back to life. 

So it was a quiet day in. The snow has not stopped, the wind has picked up. I fed the crows this morning. 3 stale snickerdoodles left from Christmas a scoop of corn, and the pan of dried catfood that had been rained on and frozen into a solid mess. 

The crows watched, and before long, they were swooping in from all directions. A large hawk came in and for awhile the crows carried on loudly from the trees. When he did not leave, they surprisingly flew back down and resumed eating along side him.

The interesting thing is that hawks do not eat corn. I am not sure that snickerdoodles are any more enticing. I suppose he could have been there for the lump of frozen catfood. I don't know. After they left, the bald eagle came to sit in a tree for for quite a while. I think he was probably waiting for a squirrel or rodent to try to nab a piece of corn.

 I read The Charmed Wife, which was a divorce retold as a fairy tale. An interesting approach, but 2/3 of the way in, I had to have a break. 

The protest yesterday was a good one, 50 people. What I notice is that the support is good. What I also notice is that the people are getting bolder. Two people in particular stand out, a truck driving aggressively as close as he could get to the curb we were standing on. Another young man standing with his upper body through a car's moonroof, throwing handfuls of wrapped candy like missiles and yelling. 

My hands and feet were freezing by the end of it all, but in the warmth of the car, we both agreed that it was good to be with like minded souls, and that the bad behavior we saw underscored the importance of standing fast. We will be there next week.

I stayed cold for the rest of the day though. I just could not get warm.

Does anyone live close to a Meijer? My youngest daughter saw this picture and remembered how she loved the mechanical horse at the store entrance. If anyone can find me one of those little toys at their Meijer, I would reimburse you for the price and postage.

Trump is not a mom, but he is a mother

In today's episode of 'As the Stomach Turns' (not original, thank Carol Burnett) we have this irony.

 trump threatens to hit Iran hard if protesters are attacked

*editorial note the 15 week training that was reduced to eight weeks has now been reduced to six weeks.

Yesterday, Christmas was moved to the attic, packed away for another year. My ornaments get packed away into an old steamer trunk, so the first order of business was getting that trunk into the attic. I was doubtful that this was possible. Tim was certain it could happen.

 I went for a tape measure. The trunk was 19 inches, and Tim triumphantly crowed "We have 19 1/2 inches clearance!" Guess he showed me alright.

Maneuvering that trunk up the fold down ladder was a nightmare. After three attempts we finally managed it. It will be up there for the rest of our natural lives, because I am not hauling it back down. I made multiple trips up the ladder carrying the tree and boxes of things to be packed in the trunk.

While I was doing this I was surprised to see a young man walking across the yard. Tim had noticed that traffic was slowing down and walked down the driveway to take a look. He had a flat tire. Tim told him to pull into the driveway. His spare tire was down to the cords and not safe. Tim pondered it and checked his garage. He had a rim and tire that would fit and got the fellow on his way, telling him to return the rim when he was able to get a replacement. It will be interesting to see if that happens. 

But that was yesterday and today is today. It has been  a quiet day. Raining, temps in the 60s.  Most of our snow is gone. Fear not: we have more on the way although I have not heard any reports of it being a snow event. 

I went to my first exercise class today, and then walked the track after it was done.  I really see that I am so very lucky.  I intend to keep it that way. Sun, Tues, Thurs, I do my 5 miles. Mon, Wed, and Fri I do the class and full body workout.

Thelma left a comment with her 'battle song' yesterday. Here is another for your collection. Happy birthday. 

Saturday we protest.

Join Ice

Videos are all over Facebook. An ice agent kicking over things at the Renee Good memorial. An ice agent walking down a line and macing people in the face. Clergy tear gassed. Nothing more than a blatant display of power. 

They want to show who is boss.

MAGA is okay with this.

 

Not the most cheerful post

 I think our little blogging circle has a lot of blogs in common, but for anyone who doesn't know, please stop over at Oddball Observations and leave a kind word for Bruce. The link is in my side bar.

Went to the gym today. It is a bit surreal watching gray heads bobbing along with Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Don't know why it should. I am one of those gray heads. I mean, we grocery shop to that music these days. Anyways, they were very friendly and several of them tried to get us to join them. Maybe I will. 

There are a lot of little stories to be seen at the gym. The old man who shuffled determinedly across the gym with his water bottle and his cane. I thought it was sweet that people set up his place for him. Bring the weights and resistance bands and the steps, etc.

The woman who worked quietly alone doing her stretches. 

The obese woman who had to stop several times to lean against the wall. 

The man in the weight room who looked so done in that i actually stopped to make sure he eas okay. He assured me he was and eventually headed to the treadmill. 

We were all there for the same reason, I suppose. A refusal to go gentle into that good night, but the first time that Blue Oyster Cult's 'Don't Fear the Reaper' comes blasting out of those speakers, I will have to go lean against the wall and have a good laugh.

I cannot even begin to say one thing about today's events. Just awful. And still their are Americans who thing it is all justified. Other people who don't believe it has anything to do with them. 

I will say this one thing: Family Life Radio is the Fox News of the radio airwaves, churning out pure propaganda.  

Also: Christian Nationalism has nothing to do with Christianty.

That's it. That's all I got.

Deep doodoo

 PS: 

The White House has  opened a website blaming police for January 6th. 

I don't even want to talk about Venezuela.

Blog note: from now on, if you come to my blog to challenge me, but don't have the guts to use your name, your comment will simply be deleted. I think you are a coward.

Tim and I got Y memberships. When we lived in town, there were a lot of places to walk. Here, not so much. The highway has very heavy semi truck traffic and I don't feel comfortable. 

Tim does not own sneakers. He wears boots. Working boots, hiking boots, muck boots, dress boots. Boots are not good for the gym. A bit of shopping was required for him. But we got him a comfortable pair of sneakers.

This morning. I got up and headed out. I did a solid hour work out. Tim did not go with me today. He decided his comfortable sneakers would be more comfortable if they were a half size larger.

Sounded suspicious to me too.

But I am glad to be exercising again. Something that I have noticed is that I am seeing a lot of obituaries of people younger than I am, which is a little sobering. I have also begun to notice that a lot of people my age are looking pretty rough. 

Use it or lose it. 

My weight loss was a good start. But I need to stay the course and I need to keep active. I walked the track today, and watched people playing pickleball. I don't know that my knee would take that lunging and twisting, but we will see. Everything feels possible.

I had a couple errands to run. I did them as quickly as I could, because they were calling for freezing rain. I decided to use the restroom before I left. I nearly collided with an elderly woman struggling to open the door while managing her walker. 

I held the door for her and she left quickly saying her daughter had left her in the car and would be concerned if she had finished her shopping and returned to the car only to find her mother gone. 

I felt that little fear as i watched her struggle: use it or lose it. 

I turned to enter the bathroom and it was literally covered in excrement. The toilet seat, the tp holder, the floor. Even the sink. I turned right around and left. 

A young mother was approaching with her toddler. I said, "Listen, you do not want to go in that bathroom. It needs attention." 

Her daughter was potty training. I said, "There is a family restroom at the back of the store, but you seriously do not want to use this one."

I let them know at the service desk, and felt very sorry for whoever got assigned to that. I checked out and headed to the car. I figured that my bladder could stand the 20 minute drive home. 

Off I went. About half way home, a little car suddenly jerked out into my lane to pass one of those semitrucks that I was telling you about earlier. On a curve. In a clearly marked no passing zone. 

It was a close one, but my bladder held.

It is raining like crazy here, but the good news is that it is too warm to freeze.

OH CANADA!

 

BREAKING NEWS OUT OF CANADA --

OTTAWA — Canadian officials held an emergency press conference Sunday after Prime Minister Mark Carney accidentally revealed the existence of what he called “The Moose Accord,” a decades-old contingency plan designed to weaponize Canada’s natural politeness in the event of foreign aggression, trade disputes, or Americans “getting a little too confident.”

The briefing, held in a curling rink “for acoustic reasons,” began normally before Carney paused, sighed, and said, “Alright. We’re being nice about this too much. Release the moose.”

According to newly declassified documents stamped SORRY / TOP SECRET, Canada has spent the last 70 years selectively breeding a special class of hyper-intelligent moose capable of navigating terrain, bureaucracy, and social situations Americans find “confusing and upsetting.” These animals—known internally as Strategic Ungulates—are trained to disrupt hostile nations by standing calmly in the middle of highways, border crossings, and Home Depot parking lots until morale collapses.

“These are not normal moose,” said one defense analyst while nervously adjusting his toque indoors. “They understand traffic patterns. They wait for eye contact. And if provoked, they will simply stare at you until you apologize to them.”

The plan was reportedly activated after U.S. intelligence flagged unusual Canadian troop movements near the border, later identified as a “totally chill winter camping situation” involving 40,000 parkas, 12,000 thermoses, and one guy named Doug who brought a propane grill “just in case.”

American confusion deepened when satellite imagery showed Canada deploying what appeared to be mobile Tim Hortons units along key routes. Officials now confirm these are Tactical Drive-Thrus, capable of feeding and caffeinating entire battalions in under four minutes.

“Once Americans smell fresh coffee and hear someone say ‘no rush, take your time,’ resistance drops immediately,” said a senior NATO official. “Frankly, it’s devastating.”

The most alarming revelation, however, was Canada’s rumored control of the Polar Vortex Dial, a weather manipulation device hidden somewhere “north of where maps stop being helpful.” When asked whether Canada could selectively aim winter at specific regions, Carney shrugged.

“Look, we don’t like to use it,” he said. “But if someone starts talking annexation again, suddenly their truck won’t start and their driveway becomes a philosophical challenge.”

U.S. officials reportedly panicked after intercepted communications suggested Canada could deploy Weaponized Apologies, a psychological tactic involving excessive politeness delivered with surgical precision.

“They keep saying ‘sorry’ but in a way that makes you feel like you messed up geopolitically,” said one Pentagon source. “It’s disorienting. I’ve written three apology emails to Ontario and I don’t know why.”

The situation escalated further when Canada unveiled its final deterrent: Hockey Night Protocol—a nationwide ability to drop everything, unify instantly, and become extremely serious about something that technically doesn’t matter but absolutely does.

“If it comes to it,” one official warned, “we’ll turn the Stanley Cup into a roaming symbol of unity and mild menace. You’ll hear the anthem. You won’t know the words. We’ll know you don’t know them. That’s when it’s over.”

The NHL declined to comment, though sources confirm the Cup has been reinforced with “emotional significance and light intimidation.”

As the press conference ended, Carney reassured the world that Canada seeks peace, friendship, and mutual respect—adding only that “we’re very patient, very polite, and extremely prepared to wait you out.”

Analysts say the revelation confirms what many have long suspected: Canada is not aggressive, not expansionist, and not interested in conflict—but if pushed, it will respond calmly, efficiently, and with winter that lasts one month longer than you’re emotionally prepared for.