We had our busiest day last Thursday, filling 46 food orders, since I've been volunteering at SHARE. I was already behind before I even got there a few minutes after 9. Our previous high was 33 families so yeah, busy day.
We have a digital scale in the storeroom there and all donations have to be weighed and written down how much and who gave. I've been weighing myself every couple of weeks. My weight has held steady at 124.7 for the past three or four years but this year it's been creeping up. Last Thursday, I weighed 130.7 pounds! I wouldn't mind so much but it's all in my stomach, well, most, my boobs are the biggest they have ever been though I wouldn't call them big by any stretch of the imagination, they barely qualify for small but they are definitely bigger, and now some of my clothes are getting a little snug (around my waist, not my chest, they aren't that much bigger). I guess sitting on my butt for 3 months of high 90s and two months of triple digits because it was too damn hot to go outside and be active was not a good way to spend the summer. I was so freaked out I skipped lunch on Friday.
It started raining at some point Thursday morning and continued to rain all day, sometimes a serious downpour but mostly just a steady light to medium rain. Rain gauge on Friday showed almost 3 1/2”. I took my first bucket of pecans to get cracked Thursday afternoon after the rain slacked off a bit. This is my evening activity for however long it takes me to get through my harvest.
Seven pounds of cracked pecans yielded me 3 lbs 5 oz of shelled nuts and 3 lbs 13 oz of shell. So far I've picked up 73 pounds of fallen nuts.
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I know I said I would start posting just one political item on a regular post but holy fucking cow...
After republicans were roundly defeated in last Tuesday's elections they continue to refuse to accept that the American public does not support their extremist policies and went on to show that they don't really believe in democracy anyway. Ex-Senator Rick Santorum in an interview on Newsmax said it out loud, complaining that young people voted on the 'sexy' (?) issues of abortion and marijuana, said “pure democracies are not the way to run a country”. In other words, they don't think everyone should be allowed to vote. And to that end, in Mississippi election officials failed to print enough ballots for 9 heavily black democrat precincts in a blatant attempt at voter suppression. North Dakota state representative and religious wing nut Brandon Prichard went further writing “Direct democracy should not exist…. It would be an act of courage to ignore the results of the election”.
Republicans are so contemptuous of the American public and our governmental system of democracy that that is exactly what they are doing. In Ohio after voters approved the new amendment to their constitution protecting abortion rights, republican legislators have signed a document vowing to ignore the results of the election and continue to uphold the 6 week ban and prosecute violators while they try to prevent the new amendment from taking effect and in Michigan, they are suing to overturn the 2022 election that passed the amendment to their constitution that guarantees abortion access and will of the people be damned.
On another front, as the deadline for funding the government looms large, House republicans cannot agree on anything and two funding bills were pulled from the floor because the small cabal of extremists that want to gut the government are tacking on anti abortion amendments (in particular giving employers the right to fire employees if they use birth control or get an abortion) and demanding steep cuts to the departments responsible for regulating businesses, promoting infrastructure, protecting civil rights, and providing the social safety net (social security, medicare, and food programs), all of which are immensely popular with the American people, both democrat and republican. While they can't seem to get a consensus on funding the government they did manage to waste everyone's time and bring to a vote several bills to reduce the Press Secretary's and others' pay to $1, their current response to any government official they don't like, to outlaw the use of the word latinx, and to defund the Vice President's office, all of which were defeated. And then Speaker Johnson sent everyone home Thursday afternoon. Here's a quick read on the dis-function of the House republicans. When the House is back in session on Monday, they will have four days to agree on funding before the government shuts down on Friday, right before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Our house of representatives is a horses' ass. Not much better to be said of the right wing nut cases in many of our state governments. Good luck with your pecan harvest. May the prices be higher than ever before.
ReplyDeleteShelling them just reminded me of a fifty year old story, when I worked at the CWRU Dental School. The secretary of the dean was so bumbed out one day I asked the dean why and he said he'd told her her new electric typewriter burned five less calories an hour than the old manual. Cracking those shells one at a time certainly uses more calories than not cracking them at all.
There is a twitter rumor that the speaker sent people home so he could fly to Paris to do a keynote address for a far right global conference. Don't know if he actually went, did it via zoom or the whole thing is wrong. Going to Paris would not surprise me.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, in Austin.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N951neLZXGg
ReplyDeleteThe descent from alleged democracy to incipient fascism has been both swift and remarkable and shows no sign of ending.
ReplyDeleteSean Casten is from my state and I was able to vote for him until they changed my district. I'm lucky that Illinois votes blue.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess in the House!
That's a lot of pecans! You'll sell them, right? Isn't that what you usually do? Or do you keep the shelled ones?
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much contempt Republicans have for the voting public -- or, specifically, certain segments of the voting public. They basically think we don't know what we're doing. Or they're answering to a higher calling, which of course is BS in so many ways.
I keep the ones I shell for myself and gifts to friends. when I think I've shelled enough, I sell the rest unshelled. plus I pick up the little ones from my native and a neighbor's tree and sell those.
DeleteWhat David M. said exactly sums it all up, I think. I am terrified.
ReplyDeleteI think Rachel maddow's Prequel is very valuable right now, to learn how we've been here before with fascism, and how a few people saved us. The Jack Smiths and Fani Willises of the ww2 era
ReplyDeleteThe people ready to attack democracy are very active all over the globe. They use all the tools. Where are the ones defending democracy? We seem to just look on and maybe go to vote once in a while.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a terrifying mess right now. And that seems like a lot of pecans, but I can’t remember your yields from years past (although I do remember that recent harvests haven’t been great).
ReplyDeleteOur Congress has too much fun upstaging one another to accomplish anything of significance.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone in noticing those heat-related pounds creeping on. I hear a lot of people talking about it, and I've experienced it myself. It's not so bad that it can't be rectified, especially now that the weather's moderated and it's more enjoyable to be outdoors, but I certainly need to re-establish some better habits. I'm glad you're well supplied with pecans. I was a little worried that the crop wasn't going to be good this year, but it seems ok. Apparently in parts of the state the acorn crop is especially good -- deer and squirrels are rejoicing.
ReplyDelete