Right Now.

Contrary to anonymous' claims, I do not think voting blue is going to change everything. We are not going to wake up Wednesday morning, expecting sunshine and roses, and everything righted in this world. 

All I know is that you don't fix the car until you get it out of the ditch. 

 Vote. 

It means everything.

Explainin'

 Sorry for the absence. 

All is well. Well...as well as it can be at this point. I am awfully preoccupied with these midterms. Although it looks promising, I cannot bring myself to write those words. At the same time, I can't bring myself to not think/write about it.

So...I wait with bated breath. 

This made me laugh:

Dutch investigative reporters are claiming the have linked Jared Kushner to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. How deep does this rot go?

Elon Musk is helping Russia develop their satellite security. Isn't this treason? 

 This situation in Alaska 

Not sure why i can't link, but try this: 

Dan Sullivans: Alaska Senate race roiled by spoiler reporting : NPR https://share.google/8wzZQWvHXCAcIxIXR

This gives the Republicans a great opportunity to freak out about cheating Democrats. If she did this, it was stupid, and it lends an aura of illegitimacy to the election that we did not need.

But...the election is Tuesday. 5 days away. 

This exchange sums it up:

Man, election day is coming up soon and I still don't know who to vote for. I just wish there was some way to decide easier. Maybe if a candidate would just send me an unsolicited text, spam phone call, run a TV ad or even blow up social media and tell me how terrible and corrupt the other candidate is it would help me make up my mind . . . Holy crap the election can't get over quick enough.

So what have we been doing? We got the house in town sided. I tried to find a before picture, but it is in my drafts and I can't quite bring myself to hunt it up. But take my word for it, it is a big improvement.

26 windows in that house, all replaced. Roof replaced maybe 5 years ago. I hope that there is still a market for houses next year. 

My cousin, Father Tim is on track to be released from the hospital. He can't go home, but he and his wife will be at a hospital owned Family House to recuperate. It will be his first time out of the hospital in 5 months. I sent him a Christmas card to remind him that we believe he will be home for Christmas.

In my effort to not think about politics, I am pleased to say that I have most of our Christmas shopping done. I can't quite believe it myself, but here we are. I need to start wrapping.

Measles were reintroduced to the Amish community through a wedding. Someone not of the community didn't know they were getting sick. 

Mattie said, "I don't know if the children will ever have school again."

People are deliberately exposing themselves to measles for immunity. 

Levi mused, 'our elders talk about measles like it was nothing, but this seems worse. People are getting this and winding up in the hospital."

I know they both worry about this a lot. I am glad they are all vaccinated. 

That is about it for here. At least all my mind can come up with, right now. 

KELLY S.

 Hey Kelly, I received an email from you that contained a link and nothing else. I did not click on the link of course, but wanted to let you know you may have been hacked.

We the People

 Well, fall is here. We are getting hard frosts in the morning. 

As the midterms get closer we are seeing some interesting things. The Tommy exchange:

Tommy is a staffer for Josh Hawley. A plant, in other words.

That exchange is getting a lot of airplay. CBS tried to reframe this:

 Jan Crawford tweet: 

 "Tommy, Thank you. I had to watch this twice to catch Dr Abdul El-Sayed's nanosecond "yeah, absolutely" response. His subsequent uninterrupted three minute diatribe proving your exact point is the exact self own most people only dream of triggering. Congrats."

She is a CBS legal analysist. The resulting social media backlash saw her removing her tweet and apologizing.

WE DID THAT.

Trump has put the kibosh on the livestreamed execution due to the outrage. 

THAT OUTRAGE IS US

(Sorry that link did not work. Try this: 

15 more days before the midterms.

I have a strategy meeting for the toy giveaway due to some rumblings from people who want to be involved but want to turn it into something else (a church trying to play an oversized role to 'own' the event.)  Another offer of help is a disguise of a group with an ax to grind with the venue.  

I am lucky enough to have two people working with me on this who are very adept at sidestepping controversy. We will meet, we will discuss, we will write the article for the newspaper and organize our volunteers. 

We are having the house in town sided, a big project that is keeping Tim busy. It is a $12,000 project (so far) but will add considerably to the value of it, assuming we have an economy left next fall and can sell it.

I have used the last of the venison from last year, so we are ready for this year's harvest. Hunting for seniors begins shortly. I guess there should be some benefit to getting old. Regular hunting season isn't until November.

Tim's cousin was killed in a farm accident. 

All that to say posting might be a bit light this week.

Funny anecdote: I took Levi, Mattie and their oldest daughter to pick up their glasses. It is a mutually beneficial trip. Gas is 35 cents cheaper per gallon there. Milk is $2.66 a gallon compared to $4.80+ a gallon locally. There is a produce store there that has bulk produce deals. Long story short, when we go up to New York State, we come back with a well packed car and a full tank of gas, so, no I don't mind hauling them. 

On the way hame, Levi asked where one of his purchases was. Distracted by driving, I said, 'I stuck that on the top in the trunk.'

Levi stared, shocked. I was confused. He had asked the question in Pennsylvania Dutch. I am not sure how I understood or how I didn't even notice the difference. 

Satisfying Day

Kacey Musgraves bites back at Kristi Noem after Talarico concert appearance:

 https://share.google/ZPjSlE3VOCpYgrTgy

Ukraine destroyed 2 Russian Data Centers, badly damaged a third. They were Bot farms. 

The internet got real quiet, real fast.

It's not all sunshine and roses:

Ukraine is not stopping.

Kimberly Giulfoyle is out. 

She still owes that Amex bill, poor dear.

 

The new press secretary is having some issues:

China said that their bar exam is not administered to foreigners. 

This was a good movie:

 

My cousin Tim Is out of ICU and doing physical therapy 3 weeks post transplant. He is on day 138 in the hospital, but I bet he's home for the holidays.

Husband Tim asked me to troubleshoot his trail cam. I couldn't link it to the phone. I spent an hour on the phone with customer service. I was starting to get frustrated because we logged in and out so many times. I removed the battery pack, antenna and SD card over and over. Nothing. It went to the sync screen and no further. 

I was a bit shocked when the woman finally told me they were sending him a new camera. The camera coming is an upgrade, since they don't make the 2 year old model he has now. 

Leaving on a laugh:

Sick of it.

Yesterday, before the protest, we drove to the rollerrink. She had a donation of 40 skate passes (skate rentals included) for our Helping Hands Toy Giveaway. I was delighted by her donation. Last year, we were a bit light on gifts for older kids. They donated 40 passes, which dumbfounded me. Even more surprising? She had 3 large bags of brand new toys. There had to be a couple dozen of them. The stuff on top seemed to be radio controlled cars. Things that would delight older boys. Not finished, she carried out a dozen rolls of gift wrap and tags.

I thanked her, but it seemed inadequate. She waved me off.

We went to the storage unit and met up with another woman and her son. They were donating a Thomas the Train railroad set. A Hotwheels racing track. Another thing I didn't quite understand, but I am sure that any adolescent boy will see that and know exactly what it is. The thing that was so sweet about that was that they had carefully sorted, cleaned and boxed up their donations. The thing that I did not quite understand was in its plastic carrying case. 

When we carried things inside, she looked around. She said, "wait...you are taking games?" 

"We sure are. Everything. Puzzles. Books. Anything like that."

She looked at her son. He said, "We have got a lot of things!" She said, "Let us do some sorting. We will be in touch." 

Tim and I locked up. We still had time before the protest, so we stopped into the Goodwill in town. We had not been there for a while. We ran into my young hippie friend. 

it is odd, this friendship. About 3 years ago, he just started talking. He had been locked into a dysfunctional relationship. I think he just needed a sympathetic ear. His girlfriend would leave, and come back, only to leave, and then come back again. Tall, skinny, tattooed, deadlocked, pierced...for all of that, he looked like a lost puppy as he told me the story.

I had read a book, so I explained the 'Let them' philosophy. About seeing people for what they were. Accepting what they are. Letting them go. 

He said, 'She has another guy.'

'Let her.' 

'They are living together.'

'Let them.'

I had watched the comprehension light his face.  The next time I saw him, he had a new tattoo to show me. In cursive it said simply 'Let Them'

When Tim and I walked in yesterday, I saw him and called out a greeting. After a year and a half, he'd heard from his old girlfriend. I looked at him. "So, what did you do?" He said, "I told her not to call me anymore." I said, "There you go. Good job!"

As I walked away, I heard him tell his coworker, "She is so great." Made me smile.

Tim and I went back and looked at games. $1.49 each, and there were tons of things that looked as if they had never been played. We picked up a cartful of stuff and headed for the register. It came to $24.00 even. We dropped them off at the storage unit. 

Seriously, we literally have hundreds of toys already, and it makes me so happy to think of it. 

After that, we went to the protest. Lots of support. I was tickled to see a couple waving and tooting. They recognized me from the fair. It was Lou and Lynn, two 90 year old teachers. We had talked at length at the Democratic booth.  A big tractor trailer went by blasting his horn and giving us a thumbs up. We laughed to see that he was from Ontario. We all planned for next week's 'No Kings'. I love these people. 

We came home. Tim worked in his garage. I cleaned the chicken coop. I finished pulling the garden, weeding the beds and topping everything with a couple inches of composted manure. It was a good day to work outside.

There is a lot of good things in my world, and I am trying to focus on all that. I am not going to lie. Current events have really been overwhelming

Those Trump accounts? Even  Dave Ramsey dismisses them as 'a political stunt'. He advises to take the seed money but not invest their own money. They are tied to the stock market. The money can be lost. When you have a president and high level insider trading, my question: is this a scam to get more money in the stock market for rich people to get their hands on?

Kim Guilfoyle peddling access to power for hundreds of thousands. 

Just weeks ago, we were threatening 100% tariffs on China and India for buying Russian oil. Now  we are buying it.

Ukraine hit a Russian data center. Turned out to be a major hub in the whole Russian bot system. Sharp decline in pro trump propaganda.

Trump sorely aggrieved he did not win the Nobel prize again. Claims it is "a stain on Norway".

The situation is devolving at such a rate, it is hard to keep up with. Every single time I watch the news, there is something new. Every fucking day.

I shut off the news and ponder the happy things in my corner of the world.

A new low.

The Y has stepped up once again, allowing us to hold the Christmas Toy Giveaway in their gym. They approved our dates. Drop-off is Dec 11th, the Giveaway is the following day, on the 12th. We have donations coming in already.  I am picking up one donation and meeting another person at the storage place before we protest tomorrow. 

The other leader, Kathy is a driving force. She lives in town and has been hauling stuff to storage every other day. An old friend, Jill has jumped on board too. It almost seems to be going too easily. People are volunteering to help. People from last year. New people too. 

Like last year, this is moving along under its own momentum. Last year, it all came together in about 3 weeks. None of us can even imagine what can happen with two months of lead-in and publicity. 

Remember, I told you I was going to try to over winter some pepper plants? I pulled up my four biggest plants, plopped them into an old galvanized wash tub full of potting soil. I lugged it inside to the basement, set it under the fluorescent light and left it to decide what it was going to do. 

After a week, it seems like it is kind of happy where it is.  That little experiment might be successful too.

My sister messaged this evening to tell me that there was a large bear crossing to our side of the road. "Watch your chickens!" she warned. He did not come chicken bothering. In fact he never happened by at all. 

All this babbling, all of it is because I am sick about current events. Nidal Hasan did a horrible thing. A radicalized army officer opened fire inside a Ft Hood in processing center, killing 13, wounding 32 more. I remember the horror of that day. Tim's daughter was in-processing at Ft Hood, and it was a sickening wait until the phone call came that she was okay. She wasn't in that building. 

So yes. I understand. It was a heinous crime, a brutal betrayal of the oath Hasan took to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".

But to live stream his execution by firing squad? My God.

Remember how sickened we were at the brutal public executions carried out by ISIS and the Taliban? The stonings, the beheadings? We thought they were barbarians. 

And yet, here we are. This public debacle allows us to be added to the list: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen, North Korea and now the US. 

I watched Hegseth almost gleefully making his big announcement in California, acting as if the military was chomping at the bit to witness this, as if he was doing this for them. 

I suppose that barbarians are 'high t', something that seems very important to Pete Hegseth's Department of War. Interesting tidbit of info: any soldier over 30 is required to disclose whether they wake up with erections. 

(Republicans are way too interested in other people's genitals, in my opinion.) 

So...here we are. Hasan is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3rd. Between now and then, we got midterms. Can it be stopped? I don't know. 

Vote. 

Jabblog!

 I want to thank Bex for word on Janice. You can read her post here. 

https://river-driftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/

Look for the October 3rd post entitled She's Okay.

One mystery down. Now, if we only had word on Northsider and Tasker, I would be a happy woman!

Not Much Today.

My Affirmation/Mantra cards were a disappointment, but then I picked up a box of breakfast cookies.

 

 Vòila. Affirmation. 

I am putting my gardens to bed for the winter. Tomorrow I will lay down some organic fertilizer (aka well rotted manure) do a layer of mulch, plant my garlic and close everything up for the winter. 

I read a post about digging up pepper plants and bringing them inside to winter. It says in the spring, you can put them outside in your garden. They will take off again in the spring and provide early peppers. So, I pulled up four of my sturdiest plants and we will see. It it does not work, I also have seeds drying in the green house. That is my experiment, and I am curious to see how it works out.

Cleaned my chicken coop out today. No eggs yet. I am trying to be patient. 

No update on the other Tim.

We spent a beautiful fall day replacing a rotten support beam for a back deck on one of the rentals. William worked with us.

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

The week in review

 There was a post from my cousin Tim's wife, Noreen. After a week, his labs were looking good. He was eating a regular diet. It just seemed such a remarkable recovery from a heart transplant, at least from my perspective, which I admit comes from a place of ignorance. 

Friday, just before 10, a post went up that there was a complete electrical block in the new heart, and he was back into surgery just over an hour later to install a pacemaker.

The latest that I have heard is that he is doing well. 

Latest update: he is showing mild signs of signs of rejection. They are trying to control this with drugs.

This has been a busy week. I tweaked my back helping Tim carry 16 12-foot boxes of siding from the front of the old house to the back. We got it done. 

At the same time I did myself damage, I was coming down with the dreaded 'Dylan-bug' that my son carried home from a California convention. To be honest, I did not realize I'd hurt myself until the flu went away and I was still gimping around. 

It has gotten cold enough at night that dehydrating has begun. Carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, corn and green beans for my 'soup jar'. I will do some potato slices for 'instant' scalloped potatoes. The dehydrate over night. The low oven keeps the house warm without turning actual heat on.

I have been collecting seeds from the garden for drying in the greenhouse. As they dry, I put them in pill bottles and label them for next year. I have Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, sage, dill, basil, hyssop, and spearmint. That is always such a hopeful thing...planning for next year's garden.

We built a grape arbor today. The back needs attached still, but I did get the four grape vines planted.  

I also planted six raspberry plants Tuesday behind the house in my 'berry patch'.

So, that's what we have been up to. 

At yoga class, the instructor always ended the class with an affirmation, an encouraging word. I thought it was a nice thing. When I saw a deck of mantras at a thrift store for a buck and a half, I picked them up. Midterms are coming up and it is hard to keep myself focused and positive. 

(Example: today at the protest an ugly MAGA rolled down his window and yelled, 'Why don't you all get a life??!!!' I came back from a place of peace and light and yelled, 'We all have lives. What are you doing with yours, loser??!!' He wasn't prepared for a comeback and tried to come up with a retort but it just sounded weak. I sent him off with one more mighty 'LOSER!' One of the protesters laughed with raised eyebrows. I said, 'I just did not want him to feel like he got the last word...')

So...yeah. a little affirmation would probably do me some good. I opened the cards.

Just great. The universe throws me a deck of MAGA mantras...

Plagues and pickles

 Well, I am back home now. We got things done while I was there, but it was plain to see that my daughter-in-law was tired. When we found out that my son was returning home sick, I had this quiet niggling fear that she was getting whatever he had. 

She was. 

In the meantime, I managed to start coming down with the cold William was recovering from when we took everyone out for my daughter's 45th birthday the previous week. 

A plague of plagues.

The girls enjoyed crafts. 

I showed them how to make a jack-o-lantern that stood on its own and and had different faces.

We collected pine cones to make these:

We did not actually get them done. The eyes for ours will be made from acorn caps, and the wings are made from paper hearts cut in half lengthwise. 

We did make bats. 

Even our simple plan to go to dinner Sunday night when my on-the-mend (we thought, anyway) son began throwing up.

In the end, I took my sniffles and body aches home. It was a long drive, but I got here. As I feared, my daughter in law is currently flat out with whatever my son had. I am hoping not to get it. 

I came home to quite a pickle. One of our tenants moved an acquaintance in. He is having mobility issues. We were shocked because we know this person. She has a drug history, and she has a criminal background that goes along with a druggy lifestyle. Burglary, disorderly conduct, assaults, possession. 17 pages of it. She has been incarcerated. She has 5 counts on an open case which will be heard on Oct. 14th.

Most alarming is that she was taking care of her mother during her final months and had a history of taking advantage and manipulating her. She was part of a drug trafficking scheme out of the old lady's home. 

All of a sudden, there were security cameras going up on our house.  Tim caught her smoking dope twice in the same week on the back porch. 

The issue became security. Providing a safe place for the two elderly tenants in the duplex. She is always there, so I tried to message the tenant with our concerns. Much to my surprise, she took his phone saying that it was better that I talk to her. At that point, we feared that she was intending to control the situation with the tenant just as she had with her own mother. 

It is not the pot. It is her history, a history that the tenant is well aware of. Somehow, she convinced him that she had changed. He needed in home assistance. She was going to help him.

After discussing it with the police, we made the decision to start the eviction process. We gave her 30 days. She should receive the paperwork today. The tenant is upset. We feel bad. In the end, we feel like it was the only way to handle it. 

The other Tim continues to improve. He is on a regular diet again. Amazing.

Update

 The 'other' Tim is off the ventilator. His wife Noreen says that he sleeps a lot, but she managed to get a picture of him awake while the nurses had him sitting up. For being 3 days post transplant, he looks surprisingly chipper to me although I am admittedly no expert in this field.

I am at my my son's house. He got home from a business convention in California late last night. He began to feel unwell on the flight home. By the time the plane landed he was decidedly sick. He still had an hour and a half drive from the airport. He made it but date night was definitely not in the cards. He slept all day but managed a light supper, so it looks like he is getting over it

One fairy tea party and a craft day. Bats today, cheese cloth ghosts drying, and they each made a 'squishy'. Tomorrow we will finish our ghosts and we have a pine cone owls to make. 

Tomatoes were canned, peppers and onions chopped and frozen for the freezer. 

 It just goes by too quickly.

That Other Tim

 If you can spare a good thought, this is Tim. Not my husband Tim but my cousin Father Tim. (Oh we do have fun with this...) After 540+ days on the transplant list, the last 117 of them spent in the hospital, he was awakened this morning to the news of a possible heart. 

After a long day, it was decided that the heart was a healthy one and that he was a good match. Surgery started just before 7PM. 

It will be a long night for him, his wife and family and the surgeons. 

While we all wait, filled with hope, we cannot forget there is a grieving family who has made an incredibly generous gift. Remember them, too.

Tim's faithful sidekick Wilson was bouncing with excitement at this morning's news.

Dumb de dumb dumb...

 Jabblog has been on my mind. 2 weeks without a post is unlike her. You are missed, Janice.

I hear there is a movement to remove the 'Kennedy' nname from RFK Jr.

A possum just might be my spirit animal.

Sad truth: we still have a road atlas in our car. If Google maps ever fails us, we have outdated road information for all 50 states.

ARGHHHHHH, Matey! 

Phantom the feral cat has begun to come to the door and meow when he is hungry. He also makes eye contact when I talk to him. 

I am heading east a day early with my tomatoes and onions and cucumbers and peppers and chicken and summer squash and a sewing machine and an armload of clothes for my girls. The weather has changed so dramatically that my vines are dying. I am going to pick all those remaining tomatoes tomorrow afternoon. It is strange that it is all winding down, but the last two days have been long sleeve weather. Septem-brrrrrrrr!

I used my 'new' wok for the first time today. I like my wok a wot. I made a passable chicken stir fry, although I did get a bit carried away with the ginger slices. It will take a bit of experimenting to find the best recipes. 

Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico backfired on him. The television networks took turns doing the video and audio for trump coverage. The film and audio was shared with all the networks. In a show of network solidarity, CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX are refusing to provide television press coverage. Trump did a ribbon cutting. No one could hear him without the microphones provided by the television networks.

I believe he is at the FO stage.

I did such a stupid, stupid thing. I will tell you what I did  to make you all feel much better about yourselves. It was one of those busy days. I got home from errands with a list of things that needed doing. It was one of those scattered days. Long story short, I got my stuff from the car, headed for the house and jumped right into checking boxes. 

The next morning I had an early meeting. I got into the car and turned the key. Nothing. I dashed back into the house where Tim was eating breakfast. "The battery is dead in the Subaru!" I grabbed the fob for the Honda and flew back out the door.

Tim put the battery charger on the car, and when that didn't work, he figured that it must be the starter, ordered one from RockAuto and jumped into his truck to do his own work. It was just a busy stretch of days. The following day, Tim went out to take a second look at the car, and I was surprised to hear it start. I went to the door and said, "You fixed it!" 

(To be fair, he has a long history of fixing stuff)

He stood looking at me oddly. 

"What?" I asked. 

"You didn't put the car in park before turning off the key." 

When the part showed up today, I very quietly and very humbly handled the return. 

There...don't you all feel better about yourselves? If you can top that story, I sure wish you would.

Nothing but giggles

The worst guard dog in the world:

(But what a good boy!)

This week has been full on.

I have done 5 batches of tomatoes. Today I am going to make ketchup, and then we are going to call it good. I have never made ketchup before but the crazy lady across the road made 70 pints of the stuff last week. (Note that the crazy lady scross the road is my sister.) She had a bushel of tomatoes on her porch and begged me to take them, saying she was about sick of looking at tomatoes, having canned them in about every incarnation you could think of. 

I did not need those tomatoes. I have a crazy glut of them over here, and I am getting a bit sick of looking at them myself, but then I got the idea that if I took Anna's bushel and processed those, it would move me one step closer to about sick of looking at them. I am heading to my son's house next week. That is the perfect opportunity to foist my excess tomatoes off on my daughter in law so that she can get sick of looking at them too. 

Tomatoes. The gift that keeps on giving.

Anyways, when I went to get the tomatoes off my sister's porch, her husband sent me off with a jar of homemade ketchup. My husband had some at lunch time and loved the stuff. I have a juicer and so many tomatoes that I had no real excuse not to make a batch of it for him. But after that, I am done, well and truly. 

With tomatoes, anyhow.

It has gotten cool enough that I can start dehydrating. As the garden starts winding down, I pick the little dribs and drabs of the end of season stuff and dehydrating. All those dried vegetables go into a glass jar. Whenever I make vegetable soup, I just scoop out a couple scoops.

We finished the last birthday celebration Friday night. My oldest has turned 45. That celebration marked the last of the September birthdays, 4 in 3 weeks. 

In between that we are working on the old house. It will be sided in October. Once that is done, we will just close it up for the winter and resume work next spring. We are putting in replacement windows in the attic. Those 4 windows are the only windows that have not been replaced. The house has 26 windows, so that is a big deal. 

Saturday was a nice day. We protested (it is changing, people!) and then Tim needed to mow the lawn at the old house. I needed to go to the library to look up a death registration. So he headed off in the car, and I headed off on foot. A couple walking their dog recognized me as one of the people on the corner and we all offered encouraging words. 

After the library, I began the walk to the old house where Tim was. They must have been selling out a home business. They had new sweatshirts on sale for $5, 5 for $20. I only found 3 that would work, sad, but it was a good find to put away for Christmas. I was also pleased to find a large, heavy wok for $3. We like stir fries here and I have always used a big skillet. I will swap them out. 

I walked on carrying my wok and the folded sweatshirts and met a friendly dog and his human. She commented on my load, and I told her about the yardsale. I commented on her beautiful yard and she invited me in her gate to talk plants. She was moaning about an invasive ground cover which gets a pretty white flower. I said I would take that off her hands to plant along the banks on both sides of the walk leading to my basement door. 

A deal was struck, and I headed off walking with my wok, 3 sweatshirts, and a handful of starts for my ground cover.

I finally made it to the house. Tim was wondering where I'd gotten to. 

We needed to stop at a couple stores. Wouldn't you know, there were bargains there, as well. 25# bags of Miracle Grow potting soil for $3 (down from $9.48) and seed starting medium marked down from $5 to $1.87. The back of the Subaru began fill up. 

We had a satisfactory day indeed, and I came home to process another batch of darn tomatoes.

Chickening Out

 Today was a getting it done day...except I didn't get it all done yet. I spent the day individually packing and vacuum sealing 120 lbs of chicken breast. The lesson of the day was 'cheap freezer bags might be cheaper BUT when you have old eyes, sealing them can be tricky and it slows you down.' 3 hours later, I finally finished. All of it is in the freezer. 80 lbs of it will go east with me next week, and 40 lbs of it is for our own use.

Buying in bulk like that allows me to get boneless, skinless organic chicken breast for $1.75 a pound, an unheard of price, so it makes it well worth my time though. After it goes in the freezer, I can transport it to my son and daughter's house safely. It stays frozen solid for the trip and is unloaded from the ice chest straight into their freezer. Compared to $4.99 a pound for chicken there, this is a very nice savings for them.

I hope to be able to take a bushel or two of tomatoes to them as well. I will go a day early to help her can them.

Anyways, that is today. I have tomatoes to do here and they won't get done if I keep sitting here.

I live his calm measured way of speaking. I believe that we will see him as president one day.

For a bit of silliness:

Something very great: I have a couple meetings tomorrow. We are setting out to recreate last year's very successful Christmas toy giveaway. We have a donation of a minimum thousand new toys. Mind-boggling to me. We have two storage places offering free storage. One place is actually accepting the donations for us, starting in November. This means we do not have to go there every time someone has a donation. 

What is incredible is that this is happening with very little effort from me. I don't know if you remember last year, but I posted an idea on a community helping hand site: 'We live in a poor area. At the same time, we have people going through their children's things to get rid of toys to make room for what Santa is bringing. What if we could get those toys collected and allow people who are struggling a chance to pick out toys for their kids for free?'

And boom! That idea took off. The YMCA offered their gym as a venue. Volunteers stepped up. We collected one day, gave away the next. Even though this was all pulled together in a matter of one month, we literally had thousands of toys to give away. 

The best part was that everyone there felt like they were in the middle of a miracle. I can tell you that it made my own holiday season.

Here we are, not even close to the holidays and the community is reaching out to do it again. I get a little thrill of excitement remembering what a community pulled together in a month and imagining what could happen with 3 months of lead in time.

This post took several sessions, but supper was made (BBQ chicken), those tomatoes were skinned and are in a pot simmering away with the appropriate spices This batch of tomatoes will become spaghetti sauce. The house smells great.

I even got the kitchen cleaned. I am on fire today!

PS: Thanks to DB Stewart.

Saturday

Today at the protest, a big SUV drove by. The window came down and the woman began screaming 'If you hate this country, LEAVE!' 

 I am so sick of the nonsense. 

I roared right back: "Freedom of speech doesn't just apply to the opinions you agree with, sistah!' 

I don't know what she said but I could hear her shrilling as she traveled down the street, moving slowly so that she could argue. She must have proclaimed that "Trump is the best!' or something to that effect, because a good natured protester's voice rang out clear and loud: "The best what though?" and she burst out laughing. So did the rest of us.

I don't imagine we changed her mind, but we did shut her mouth.

While we were there, a fellow came around with flyers. He is organizing a march for Canada Thursday evening. We told him we would be there. This week will be full on. I just want it to matter.

Tiger Kitty has been missing for a couple weeks. He really had been so very good about sleeping inside. I feel pretty bad about this. 

Hot Dog

 We did not have a frost last night. It didn't get anywhere close to cold enough for that.

We had more weather though. We had to go to the bank. I needed to buy eggs. I buy the 5 dozen box. It normally lasts a couple months, so hopefully I will have my own eggs by then *side eye at the 'ladies'* it will be winter, so who knows really? We are putting a light in the coop to balance the short days and we will hope for the best.

Anyways, back to the weather. While we were in town, we stopped at the Goodwill which is right by the bank. It was 79 cent day. I found this and knew immediately where it should go. I also found a chenille sweater for my youngest granddaughter. 

(I also realized when I got home, the sign was printed crooked. Lucky that I am not OCD.)

But back to the weather...while we were in the store, the skies opened up and it was yet another torrential downpour. We scooted to the car, got soaked, and the water rushing to the storm drain went to my ankles. It is always amazing how quickly this happens. 

Tornadoes went east of us, but I have not heard of any touchdowns. 

At his GOP convention, Trump promised every American $5000 if Republicans win the midterms.  1) that is a violation of federal law. 2) it would cost a trillion dollars and 3) We are still waiting on our D.O.G.E checks, our $2000 tax rebates and our $1000-1500 health rebates as a reward for letting the ACA lapse. 

Nobody in their right minds believes these promises. I take it one step further: no one in their right mind would stand in front of a camera making promises like this, or telling boldface, easily disproven lies. It always amuses me when people talk about 'Trump derangement syndrome. Our president is literally crazy, but the people who notice are the ones that get labeled. 

Gas went up 30 cents a gallon yesterday. Are you seeing that where you are?

Tuesday

Painted at the old house today. Got another load of stuff out. Cleaned. Loaded up an old homemade bookshelf. I had plans for it. I wanted it in the basement to hold my canned stuff. It is parked right next to the freezers. 

It has to be a hundred years old:

Ignore the dust. We had a busy day, did not get home until 6. I had tomatoes to be picked, processed and put into jars for stewed tomatoes

 I am pleased to say that I got it all done and am waiting for the "ping'. (1 down, 7 to go.)

Anyways, what I love about that shelf is that it is made out of a shipping crate. You can see the "use no hooks' on the back. The rest of it is painted. The door is gone. But look at the top of it. The man who made it took the time to 'pretty it up' for whoever he was making it for. Me, being me, imagined a happy little story about a happy little couple in a happy little house about a hundred years ago. I imagine him proudly giving it to her, and her believing she had married the cleverest man in the world. 

How can you get rid of something with a story like that?

(2nd jar pinged)

I also found a very excellent find today. My oldest granddaughter sews little things for herself by hand  but she dearly wanted a sewing machine. She bought herself a child's sewing machine from her own money, but it never did work properly. I read up on it (3rd jar pinged) and my daughter in law and I discussed simply getting her a regular adult sewing machine. The concern was spending a lot of money on an 8 year old's hobby, but today on marketplace. $30! Even if she loses interest, the machine can be sold without losing money.

I could not wait to tell them (4th jar pinged) and her grandma there has offered to teach her to sew. 

Today was my son"s 40th birthday. I sent him a review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great kid. 

Would birth again.

No reply. Poor guy evidently did not find it as funny as I did. His real gift was a bottle of blended bourbon/maple syrup (it actually is quite smooth and I don't even like bourbon) and  pancake makings. He is the master breakfast dad. 

Today was my youngest granddaughter's first full day of preschool. She decided at the last minute she wanted to stay with mom, but she didn't cry. At the end of the day, she was all smiles. She loved it, much to everyone's relief.

5th jar pinged while I was breaking up at cat fight. 

Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain. I am glad for that. It gives me a day off from working on the old house, which is good. I have peppers to chop for the freezer. I imagine we will have another round of tomatoes to pick. Tomorrow night we will have to cover everything. Unbelievably, there are frost warnings.

6th and 7th jars pinged.

Trump claimed today that two burly firemen dragged him from the rubble on 9/11. I remember that day. He called WWOR on his penthouse line

https://youtu.be/aPvemZHnd0s?is=suKje94yYPdlg4wM

The man is crazy. 

In Canada, fancy plaques are going up on public toilets, designating them as trump monuments.

I am waiting on one remaining jar to seal. It is after midnight. Hopefully it will ping without me.

So why, though?

 The question becomes 'what sort of data are data centers storing?' When you have a government that is actively monitoring our online activity, and not hiding the fact, to me, personally, it makes me suspicious of the sudden need for so many.

The trump sycophant running for governor in my state is advocating building these in our "vast unused" rural spaces. She also says these data centers need to be deregulated, meaning local government will have no sway in the decisions made by these behemoths.

I don't think any massive corporation should be deregulated, especially one with the potential to be used against a country's own citizens. 

I can already hear you self proclaimed seeing-both-sides folk snorting and rolling your eyes as you point out valid uses for these storage places. Sure. So let those corporations store their own data. It might be cheaper to use massive storage data centers, but why are we so concerned about making another way to cut costs for corporations? 

Stacey Garrity is trailing Josh Shapiro in that governor's race by double digits right now, very good news.

(Reminder to anonymous: if you don't put your name to your comment it will be deleted.)

What has six heads, twelve legs, makes a lot of flappy, agitated noise? (Answer: six chickens who immediately flock and head straight at any cat looking interested.) After a week, the cats ignore them. I have begun to cautiously turn them out in the morning.