getting the vaccine, confused flowers, and 2020 review

I have an appointment on January 26 at 6 PM, eleven days after the first date it had shown me two or three hours earlier, to get my first covid vaccination shot. Out of the 9 available locations I focused on the two nearest me, both nearly an hour away. It took me a good 15 minutes flipping back and forth between the two locations, constantly refreshing the sites. Four times it gave me a date and time and then before I could get name, email, and phone entered and clicked register it told me that, oops, someone else already got that one. Many times it told me no dates or times available and to try again but I persevered and finally succeeded in getting an appointment. Not my first choice in location but no farther away. I don't know which vaccine I'll get.

My sister sent me a link to a site that lists all the places in Texas that have and are distributing the vaccine and surprisingly enough, the HEB (grocery) pharmacy in this little podunk town has it but is only vaccinating front line healthcare workers right now. I imagine they have the Moderna vaccine since it doesn't need extraordinarily frigid temps to store it as I'm pretty sure the HEB doesn't have sub-zero celsius storage capacity.

It seems the word has gone out that the bird feeder is open for business. I'm seeing chickadees and sparrows and the little warblers that winter over here and white wing doves and inca doves and cardinals and goldfinches that are migrating through. And of course the curious little wrens though they don't eat seed.

Yesterday morning I looked out the back door and there was, no surprise, a squirrel on the bird feeder with it's back to me. I opened the door, it ignored me, I walked right up to it, it ignored me, I poked it on the butt, it sat up and looked at me. What are you doing I said and then it finally jumped down and went up the tree. Later in the day I saw the same squirrel, I'm sure it was the same squirrel by the way it was behaving, on the rim of the turtle pond acting sort of woozy with its tail in the water trying to get a drink which it did and then jumped down and went over to the overturned bucket on the ground upon which I had put a hand full of pecans and there it stayed. I took its picture and came inside. Haven't seen it since but that squirrel is not well.

I had thought I would get out there and clear out the last 12' in the barn yesterday as the days are nice and warm but it was so windy and gusty that raking and sweeping would have been an exercise in futility and I finally got tired of being pushed around by the wind and came in so maybe today as we're supposed to get to the mid 70s.

I saw the first bloom of the 10 petal anemone in the yard yesterday

and there is a bluebonnet plant in the front that is putting out buds. In December.

Some of the plants look like this

when they should look like this at best this time of year.

And the spring weeds in the yard have just exploded the last few days. It looks so fresh and green. In December. The woodland violets and the little yellow oxalis are starting to bloom.

This is all way early y'all.

Well, tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I suppose this is when I usually post about the past year but I think it can be summed up in a few words...as bad as we thought 2019 was, 2020 was exponentially worse, the only bright spot being that we kicked Trump to the curb. I'll leave it at that.

weeks 40 and 41

I see I'm due for a covid post.

I only have one window open to an NPR article dated December 18 titled “Newly Released COVID-19 Data Show Most U.S. Cities Are 'Sustained Hotspots'” which includes a map that is almost entirely red. This quote says it all...”The data show how seriously the pandemic is affecting each state and local area, Panchadsaram says, and the upshot "is that it's all really bad."” 

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What else is there to say? Hospitals are still overwhelmed, our healthcare workers are seriously exhausted and demoralized because too many stupid and/or selfish Americans just won't follow the simplest guidelines of mask wearing in public and not gathering in groups until it's under control. Saw one tweet today from a nurse that a husband and wife had both died that day after hosting a Thanksgiving gathering for 20 people. As bad as it's been since Thanksgiving, now we have the Christmas surge to look forward to.

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The US is continuing to rack up another million confirmed infections every 4 or 5 days, thousands are dying every day even with a national death rate, as of December 27, of something like 1.7% (at its highest in mid-May 2020 it was 6.2%), info via this site. Texas death rate as of December 26^th was 1.79% while my county was 2.96%. Yay us.

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The only good news is that there are now two vaccines out there, Pfizer's and Moderna's, and our healthcare workers are getting vaccinated and of course all those Republican naysayer congressmen who have continuously downplayed the virus and refused to wear masks and held and attended super spreader events are now jumping the line to get vaccinated. But even that good news is diluted by Trump sitting on millions of doses with no plan in place to get them distributed.

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A news item from CNN dated December 28 related that this month more than 63,000 Americans have died from the virus, the most of any month since the pandemic started meaning more than 1 in 1,000 people have now died from the virus and the rate is accelerating and some hospitals are now or are looking at rationing ICU beds in the near future.

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I had a surprise email today. I figured it would be early to late spring before I would be able to get vaccinated but I have been informed that as an established patient of the Hermann Memorial system and being over 65 I am eligible to get the vaccine now and it provided a link to make an appointment. I looked at it earlier today and at that time, mid January was open for an appointment. I didn't follow through then. I'm kind of freaked out, I figured I'd have a couple of months to see how people were faring who got vaccinated. I'm being silly I know and I will sign up for it.

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Current US statistics via Worldometer as of today 12/28/20, 21:29 GMT: cases – 19,701,832; deaths – 342,347. Texas is still #2 for infections and #2 for deaths.

the day after

 
I hope everyone had a pleasant day yesterday.

My sister, who has traveled for Christmas every year since her husband died 10 years ago and spent the holiday either with her daughter in New Mexico or our brother in Washington state, did not travel this year because...covid. Instead her granddaughter Vickie came to spend the holiday with her and so Pam and Vickie hosted a very small Christmas dinner in her new house with us and her roaming adventure friend Bobby. It was very nice and we had a good time.

Pam is the only person I exchange gifts with because she adamantly refuses not to do so and her gift to me this year was this very cool pig birdhouse which no bird with any sense at all will ever nest in because the hole is big enough to give every predator access so it's purely decorative. I love it.

My gift to her hasn't arrived yet, maybe today. I ordered it end of November and eleven days later got a notice that a mailing label, with tracking number, had been created and the post office was waiting for the package to arrive at a facility. Eight days after that according to the tracking number it still had not arrived at the facility. I dashed off an inquiry, they apologized, didn't know what had happened, duplicated my order and sent it UPS this time due to arrive the 29^th. The next day, just out of curiosity I checked the original shipment via USPS and it now said delivery scheduled for the 26^th, today. So, yay, she gets two.

My brother always sends a gift too, some sort of edible (no not that kind), even though I never reciprocate. This year it was a box of sugar, an assortment of candy from the area, which I got a big kick out of so either he didn't read the post about my blood sugar level or he's trying to kill me. And yes, I'm eating them anyway.

The grandgirls are here at their parent's house across town, the grandboy in Arkansas with his girlfriend. Had planned to go visit yesterday but we all took naps instead so that's on the agenda for today. (After I wrote this Jade and Robin came by for a visit on their way out.)

And so to tidy up this week, Wednesday, instead of finishing clearing out the last 12' of the barn because a cold front was due in that evening with a chance of rain, I got the trash wood over to the burn pile and everything else I didn't want to get wet squirreled away and by then I was worn out and went in and took a nap. We did get some rain and Thursday it was very cold and very windy and I barely ventured out. Yesterday a bit warmer, nice in the sun, but, nah and doubtful I'll get to it today either. We really need to get the roll up doors that were planned for each end but that will have to wait.

Winter is our good sunset season but this year they haven't really been anything much but last night we finally got a good one.

a small collection

It's ironic that while I don't 'do' christmas, neither the religious one nor the secular one, don't feel compelled to get a tree or decorate the house or make endless batches of cookies or even succumb to the obligatory gift giving, I love christmas tree ornaments. Well, not all. The simple balls, glittery or not, don't do anything for me. I have a few antique ornaments and a few others I've bought over the years from fellow artists that I display year round on a metal cup hanger thing I found at an estate sale years ago. I have a few others that aren't on it as all the hooks are occupied. I mostly don't buy the ones I like because I don't put up a tree and unless I have a way to display them, what's the point?

The antique ornaments are left over from the hand blown German ones my parents bought when they first married and a few have survived the years. I have a bird,

a little bear,

a frog,

and mushrooms.

My sister Pam has more of them as she actually puts up a tree though they aren't on her tree this year because of the Demon Duo and their first year with a tree.

A Santa, the only one she could readily find a picture of.

I remember the Santas, a church with a steeple, a pinecone, a table lamp, a swan, a basket of flowers, a trumpet, a house. I'm sure there were others. To be honest, I had to do an image search for antique german blown glass christmas ornaments to jog my memory for some of the ones I couldn't readily call to mind.

From artists...a gilded dragonfly wing by Fahan Sky McDonal on the left and a turned wood ornament by Thomas Irwin on the right,

this one a gift from Kathy Barnard which hangs in my window but the camera would not focus on it there,

a little birdhouse from a gallery in Canada,

and my little robot made from watch and clock parts I picked up at an antique store.

A few others that hang in various places...these two stars picked up at estate sales,

another little blown glass bird,

and a dragonfly my sister gave me.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. 

cleaning out the barn

Yesterday was another blue sky day and relatively warm and still. Operative word here being 'still' so I torched the burn pile and after it was down to smoldering I emptied the truck of all the accumulated dead branches that fall continuously from four pecan trees and two large oaks onto the pile and they went up.

Then I started on the barn. Did I take a before picture? No I did not because...me. I only got about 10' in done before it was time for lunch, walk the dog, take a shower, and get ready for yoga class. I did move my shovels and other garden tools back in but I have plans to store them differently. 

the boards across the front are there to keep more leaves from blowing in

Rocky hailed me when I passed by his house with the dog yesterday. He and his brother Rene were clearing and cleaning out his garage. Must have been the day for it.

Well, it was a good thing we looked at the near conjunction in the night sky Sunday night because while Monday was a clear blue sky, it started clouding up late afternoon and by dark was completely overcast and the same  tonight though today was pretty.

Did more work on the barn, another 18'. Hauled stuff out and put it on whichever pile...pots, trash, metal recycling, keep, wood trash for the burn pile, miscellaneous...raked out the leaves, swept out the dirt. I've got it cleared all the way to the second man door, all but about the last 12' or so. 

Of course the concrete apron in front of the barn is totally trashed.

Tomorrow, more of the same as long as the weather holds. Hopefully I can start getting stuff back in neater and more organized.

observations, notifications, and random stuff

The little warblers that winter over here and chickadees and sparrows are visiting the bird feeder.

Today is a clear blue sky 

but Saturday morning it rained 2” worth.

I have two more sweet peas sprouting so that makes 9 all from the same package though I don't know which one.

An enormous group of three ever shifting Vs geese, one nestled inside another like chevrons, flew overhead this morning heading north.

This plant I received in a trade is sending up a bloom stalk.

Next spring's poppies and baby blue eyes are sprouting.

One of the amaryllis bulbs has a leaf tip peeking out.

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Marc's mom called Thursday to let us know one of his brothers has covid and pneumonia.

Daughter Sarah came over Saturday to tell us that not only the brother but almost all members of three families, the brother's, the niece's, and a nephew's, all in Dallas also have covid (can you guess they've been socializing together), fortunately not his older sister...so far and no one is sick enough to be hospitalized so we are grateful for that.

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I've been waiting all summer for a day like today to clean out and reorganize the barn or garage. Am I doing it? No, no I am not. But the dog and I did take a long walk today and I piddled around in the yard some because it is just so pretty out.

I hauled out the angel trumpet for some sun since it really does not like being inside and starts dropping leaves almost immediately and the begonia and bird of paradise as well, went across the street to my neighbor's house for tree ripened grapefruit, 

arranged some small sandstone slabs under the bird feeder to hopefully make it easier for the ground feeding birds to get to the seed that falls, put some pecan 'seconds' out for the squirrels in an attempt to keep them off the bird feeder (hope springs eternal, right?), bathed the dog because...dog, found the strand that had gotten pulled off the beaded curtain and reattached that as well as reattached a smaller section on another strand and so now with the previous repair nothing is missing, though it's a little tattered at the bottom, which is a miracle because I've had it for at least 20 years, 

dug out the tubular bird feeder that the previous owners left behind, because I'm thinking it might be a little more squirrel proof, which had three of the six perches missing and repaired that because I had a piece of 1/4” dowel rod which with a little whittling on one end worked perfectly.

So all in all, a fairly productive day. 

a negative result, a celestial happening, and political and pandemic revelations

The crescent moon Wednesday night with that faint pinpoint of light straight above being the planet Jupiter. Saturn was above and slightly to the left  of Jupiter but too faint for my phone camera to pick up. They're getting closer with the conjunction only 3 days away on the winter solstice when they will be lined up to appear as one big bright star.

I got my test results late Tuesday afternoon...negative.

We went to Costco Wednesday late morning. I figured Tuesday or Wednesday would be the least crowded days. Wrong! It was packed when we got there, long register lines all the way down the aisles but by the time we got our goods and headed that way it had cleared out so only two people ahead of us at the register.

And yesterday was my volunteer day. The guy whose wife was positive was there when I first got there but they must have asked him to leave because not long after he was gone. And then I went over to Pam's all the way across the street! to check out her new Tuff Shed storage building which they delivered and then put together on Tuesday but it got dark before they finished, were supposed to return Wednesday, were supposed to return yesterday, are supposed to be here today to shingle the roof and finish (they were and did). Then off to the grocery store where I spent far too much time for the few items on my list, unorganized going from one side of the store to the other several times, and then walked the dog, did the dishes since they had reached critical mass, shelled nuts for an hour and a half, cleaned up the kitchen again after dinner, went to bed at 9:30 with my book.

Today the big plan is to take the accumulated newspapers to the vet and fill the bird feeder now that I got the giant bag of birdseed from Costco.

Since my days are pretty blah and boring, I guess I'll get political. The nation is continuing to be under attack from the Trump administration. It has now come out that his coronavirus pandemic team's goal was to get as many Americans infected as possible as fast as possible for herd immunity and the 300,000+ and rising death toll was just the price to pay and they have been quite successful as over a million Americans are getting infected every week. Now Governor DeSantis of Florida and a few other republicans have decided that they are smarter and know better than the scientists and doctors who developed the two dose vaccine and are saying that the first shot is sufficient to provide protection and that way twice as many people can be vaccinated, meanwhile millions of doses of the vaccine available to the US sit in a warehouse waiting for the Trump administration to tell Pfizer where to send them and some states have been told they're only getting half the doses promised. Why are they dragging their feet you might ask? Well, Moderna's vaccine is due to be given emergency use by the FDA any day now and guess who has invested in Moderna? So, yeah, it's all about what's best for Trump as always.

As if that's not bad enough, we all know that Trump fired the pandemic response team left behind by Obama and Biden and we are experiencing the result of that, but Trump also decimated the cybersecurity department leaving only the unqualified behind and basically opening the door to Putin's hackers who have been tromping around in our government systems, including the nuclear weapons agency, for 9 months. The few experts left have no idea what all they got into, how far, how deep, how many other back doors they installed, or what national security secrets they got access to. And just like Trump had nothing to say about the revelation of Putin putting bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, he has nothing to say about this cyber security attack. It would not surprise me to learn that this was all arranged in one of Trump's secret meetings with Putin. And how did the Defense Department react? They canceled all meetings with Biden's transition team until after the holidays.

Trump himself is quadrupling down, insisting he won because he got more votes than last time, egged on by his advisers who, every time Trump starts to show signs of acceptance, convince him (easily enough as he doesn't seem to grasp the concept that the person who gets the most  votes wins) that he did indeed win, while certain other political hacks are calling for him to declare martial law to remain in office and threatening to object when the EC votes go to Congress for ratification. So this is all he is focused on, fighting to keep a job he hates, doesn't really want, and barely does. In the meantime his neighbors at Mar A Lago have filed suit to prevent him from making it his residence, which legally he can't do.

And the republicans in Georgia have gone bat shit crazy filing more frivolous lawsuits that keep getting thrown out to reverse Biden's win in that state as well as to suppress the vote for the Senate run-off election. They are pissed that the republican in charge of the election there has added more drop boxes and want them removed or at least locked after dark. He's making it too easy for  black people to vote! So while they're fighting to keep control of the Senate, they're busy eating their own.

Later the same day...

Well, I dawdled too long and failed to get the newspapers to the vet which closes at noon on Fridays. I did, however, fill the bird feeder, take the box of books that a neighbor gave us a year ago to the little library across from the post office and they all fit! And as the floors in the lower part of the house had also reached critical mass I swept. Took the staghorn ferns out for a good watering as well as the bird of paradise which has sent up two bloom stalks (it always wants to bloom late fall into winter), watered all the plants inside, walked the dog and that's it for me. I put on my comfy I'm-not-leaving-the-house-again pants, I'm going to grab my book, and occupy the couch for the rest of the night.

I'm behind on reading all your posts and I may or may not try to catch up but I'll be back around tomorrow.

And in case you were wondering, this is what the fire spike looks like after the flowers fall off.

 

so much excitement I can hardly stand it

Cold and overcast outside Monday. Sunday low rumbling thunder began just before dawn and it rained all morning til about noon, thunder, lightning, heavy rain at times. Little dog was already trembling and panting when we rolled out of bed so I gave her a half of the CBD chew that worked so well last time. 30 minutes later gave her the other half but while she wasn't quite as manic she didn't stop the trembling and panting til the rain stopped. Almost 3” of rain.

So I went and had my covid test on Sunday. She handed me a bag of stuff through the drive-up prescription window...a vial of liquid, the swab, an alcohol wipe, a page of info. First loosen the cap on the vial, next unwrap the swab and stick it up one nostril, make 3 revolutions inside your nostril and let it sit for 15 seconds, stick it up the other nostril and repeat, remove the cap off the vial and stick the icky swab inside using the edge of the vial and the notch on the swab stick to break off the stick leaving the icky swab in the fluid, cap it, place it back in the zip lock bag, use the alcohol wipe to lift the top of the metal container beside the window, deposit the bag and wipe the entire length of the top of the metal container, throw the trash away at home. It was uncomfortable but not painful, made my eyes water but I was more afraid it was going to make me sneeze while it was up there. Now I wait. So no yoga class til I get my results. Tomorrow maybe. And I had to reschedule my dermatologist appointment.

Sunday was warm, high 70s, wind coming from the south until about 3 PM when it shifted suddenly coming from the north very gusty and the temperature started dropping. I managed to get the half dozen or so plants back in the house or garage before the rain really started coming down Sunday morning because while it was warm then, Sunday night hit mid 30s. The yellow angel trumpet enjoyed its few days outside and now has three open blooms on it.

Marc and I both have been researching KETO diet and also pre-diabetes diet and basically, I already eat all the good stuff, already don't eat the bad stuff, don't need to and shouldn't lose any weight so that just leaves carbs. I tried the riced chickpea rice substitute Sunday night (several other types out there) and it was OK, just nothing like rice, more like a creamy orzo. And I confess I did make another crostata but I had already thawed out the peaches and it was just half peaches and half dewberry and blueberry. 

And I checked the patient portal to see what my A1C is...5.6 with 5.7 and up being considered pre-diabetic so the A1C puts me in the normal range if only just while my blood sugar puts me in the pre-diabetic range.

So like I said, cold soggy and overcast yesterday, and today the same, only supposed to hit mid 50s so I'm inside all day again though the library called yesterday and they want their book back which I just finished Sunday night so I slipped it in the outdoor book drop but no browsing for something new to read. Guess I'll just continue to shell pecans, my evening activity all last week which is also my book reading time and why it was so overdue that the library called.

What an exciting life I lead, right? I did get the little table inside cleared off that I use for drawing so maybe I'll get motivated to try a watercolor again. And remember those two packages of two year old sweet pea seeds I planted a week or so ago? Well, 7 have sprouted.

And finally, a picture of Emma and Big Mama hanging out together.

weeks 38 and 39

A few days after my last covid post we surpassed the record set April 15^th for the most covid deaths in one day and have had over 2,000 deaths a day since and the last week saw over 3,000 deaths in one day, a million new cases in 5 days. Everyday we lose more than on 9/11 or Pearl Harbor. We've lost more Americans to covid than in all of WWII, one hospital converted part of their parking garage into a covid ward, and still people out there refuse to take it seriously.

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To say that our hospitals are overwhelmed and our health care workers are exhausted has got to be the understatement of all time.

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I have so many windows open on my browser so I'll start oldest to most recent...

Pfizer's mRNA vaccine is 95% effective. This Guardian article is dated November 18^th so I might have included it already but it has a chart of the most promising vaccine candidates.

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This one from NPR is dated November 30 reports that Moderna's mRNA vaccine is 94% effective and in one study 100%. Both Moderna and Pfizer have applied for emergency authorization to the FDA. 

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Also dated November 30, CBS reports that the US had more covid cases in November than most countries had all year. 

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NPR reported on December 1^st that a federal advisory committee to the CDC has decided that front line health care workers and nursing home residents be the first to get a vaccine. 

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Another NPR article dated December 1 reports that a new government study had determined that the coronavirus was in the US weeks earlier than thought and before the cases in China were publicly identified. I believe my sister had it last December, caught on the plane to visit our brother and a neighbor is certain her son had it in November (I think she said November but certainly before any of us knew about it) of last year. 

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An article from AARP dated December 2 discusses the possible side effects of the vaccine...fatigue, muscle aches, joint pain, headache, injection site pain but that they are temporary and self-resolve. 

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Another article from AARP reports on a study from Denmark on blood type susceptibility to the virus with type O having fewer cases than type A. 

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Friday December 4^th the CDC released this chart of per capita deaths per state.

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The news from December 8 on is mainly more infections, more dead people, more overwhelmed hospitals and health care workers, and still no response from Trump's administration. The FDA gave emergency clearance to Pfizer's vaccine Friday the 11^th which is slated to begin being available tomorrow, Monday the 14 though only for health care workers and those in nursing homes but I have no doubt politicians and the very wealthy will also be first in line.

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Trump had an opportunity to purchase another 100 million doses in addition to the ones he already had a contract for before it was ready and he passed on the opportunity. Now that it has been found safe and effective the US will have to wait til late spring or early summer before more doses of the vaccine will be available for purchase by the US.

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December 11 the CDC predicts we could see over 450,000 deaths by February.

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And then basically virus news dropped out of sight with the ridiculous lawsuit petition by Texas for the Supreme Court to declare the elections in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia null and void and to appoint Trump the winner and all the republicans and Trump who signed amicus briefs in support, the complete dismissal by the SC of said petition, the Trump meltdown, and the march riot by the Proud Boys in DC on Saturday committed violent assault on passersby and counter-protesters and 4 stabbings and destruction of private property tearing down Black Lives Matter signs. And where were the police? Was there tear gas, rubber bullets, cops in riot gear bashing people on the head? Why no, of course not, as the police are all for their terrorism.

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One final note before the bi-weekly count of cases and deaths...I'm getting tested later today. I think I'm fine but I found out last Friday evening I was possibly exposed twice at SHARE. Two of the volunteers who were there on Thursday the 3^rd have tested positive. We think one that came in that day was infectious, and while she is usually only there for about 2 hours she was in close contact, even though everyone was wearing masks, with the second volunteer that tested positive a few days later and that woman is in a motorized wheelchair and has other health issues. Not good. While I am in the same building, I was in the back and not around either of the volunteers that tested positive though I'm sure I passed by them a time or two. I'm less concerned about that day, since enough time has passed for me to be feeling ill if I was infected, than I am about last Thursday. The two volunteers didn't come in but the husband of the one we suspect was infectious did come in and was there the previous Thursday, and he works in the back food area though not my food area and, while again we were all wearing masks, I did come within 6' of him several times. So, I'm still feeling fine but the test is free so why not. I don't want to go in next Thursday if I'm asymptomatic but infectious. I don't worry about the virus building up in the building as it's only open one day a week for four hours though individual volunteers will come in on other days to catch up on paperwork and return phone messages.

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Current US statistics as of today 12/13/20, 18:28 GMT: cases – 16,597,438; deaths – 305,460 (that's right, the US has exceeded 300,000 dead). California jumped ahead in cases but Texas is still #2 for infections at 1,478,827 and #2 spot for total number of deaths at 24,514.

a rant, more doctor shit, and attempted sedition

Well, dammitall. My new jeans arrived yesterday and they are, as I suspected they would be, the stretchy 505s. After I posted about ordering the jeans I looked at the label in my stretchy pair and it's the same in the pair that arrived yesterday...

this is the label from my older non-stretchy pair...

so once again a perfectly fine product has been changed into a not fine product. Why the fuck do women's clothes makers think that all women want stretchy pants and stretchy shirts for that matter. Couldn't they have just left 505s alone and introduced a new product? And now I'm glad I didn't buy two pairs. So now the hunt for decent jeans is on again. Am I going to have to go back to wearing men's jeans which I did for decades because I could not find a pair of women's jeans that weren't 4” too long (no, not every woman wears 4” heels all the time), weren't cinched in at the waist or so low riding they barely covered my pubic bone, weren't covered with spangly shit, or stretchy. I want my jeans the right length, the waist just above my hip bones, and not stretchy or spangly or pre-torn. Why is that so fucking impossible?

This is my month for doctor appointments I guess, get them all over with at once, so Wednesday was my follow-up with the electrophysiologist. Since the afib has settled down, especially since the election, he is content to keep the status quo so I don't see him for another six months unless it starts acting up again. Don't wait til the next appointment and to call if I start having problems, he tells me, we are partners here you and I, he says.

Next Tuesday is my dermatologist appointment but January 21^st is the soonest I could get the bone density scan scheduled. What I'm not getting this year is the boob smushing as my PCP says I only need one every other year so yay for that.

I'm not even going to address the unbelievable and unthinkable, as it was pre-Trump, lawsuit petition to the Supreme Court by Texas' AG Paxton to overturn the election results in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan and the AGs from 17 other red states and 126 House Republicans as well as Trump himself that have submitted amicus briefs in support of the petition to overturn a legal and secure election to appoint Trump as the winner after over 50 lawsuits have been thrown out of court for lack of one iota of evidence or proof of fraud. Even Barr has said there was no fraud. So many republicans willing and ready to commit sedition because their guy lost. It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court is just as willing to commit sedition and throw our democracy and constitution to the wolves.

edit: the Supreme Court turned them down.

And you know, they aren't contesting every vote on a ballot that went for Biden for president since they are perfectly happy with the votes that got them elected or re-elected to the House and Senate. Apparently only votes for Biden are fraudulent but the down ballot votes for republicans are all on the up and up. And where does Texas get off contesting how other states ran their elections?  yes, I'm a Texan but not all of us are crazy or stupid   No place, there is no train or bus stop for that destination. Paxton is being investigated for criminal activity and the FBI subpoenaed records from his office the day before he filed his petition so the conventional wisdom is that he's angling for a pardon from Trump by showing his loyalty with this ridiculous lawsuit.

And Melania apparently had a member of her staff check to see if there was a government budget dedicated to paying the expense of their move out of the White House (there isn't). OK, that's enough of something I wasn't going to write about.

So ending up with a few critter pictures piling up...this little rat snake was sheltering under one of the cookie sheets I use to put the pots on inside,

I have many bird houses that mostly the birds don't use but the frogs like them,

wasps are pollinators too,

and Big Mama coming to see if I had food (I did not).