Yesterday was our 49th wedding anniversary. Wednesday night at dinner Marc asked me if I knew what tomorrow was. Thursday, I said kind of shrugging like yeah. He looked at me and said, August 14th. Oh, yeah, right. I never remember and he knows that. I can’t believe it’s been 49 years he said. Yeah, you lucky bastard I replied. He laughed. Just a counterpoint to all the times he’s told me how lucky I am to have snagged a fine fellow like him. I roll my eyes. So Thursday morning we got up, wished each other happy anniversary. I went off to SHARE, we had lunch, took naps, I went off the yoga, had dinner, watched a little TV and off to bed. Like every other holiday or cause for celebration that other people indulge in, we don’t do anything special. We used to go to a movie and dinner out for birthdays and anniversaries but that stopped with covid and we just haven’t picked it up again. For one thing out here, there is no place local we would want to go eat at and the closest movie theater is a half hour on the highway away and up until recently that stretch of highway has been under heavy construction and expansion. Wrecks with 18 wheelers were frequent.
As anniversaries go we’ve really been together for 50 years. That one came and went in July. July 4th to be exact. While we had been out a couple of times with our friend Tommy previously that would have been our first official ‘date’. I had already left to spend the holiday weekend with the family at the beach house and when I got back there was a message that Marc had called and if I got back this was the number he was at. Well, it was days before I returned and when I did I called that number and it turned out to be the phone number of a friend of his because he didn’t have a phone but the guy would let him know I had called back. What I missed was a trip to Dallas to see the Rolling Stones that Marc had two tickets to. So while we did eventually have our first date (we went go cart riding), July 4th is the day we mark as the beginning of our relationship.
It was so hot yesterday and has been especially the last week and while we’ve had lots of rumbly days we haven’t gotten any real rain. It’s dark, windy, and rumbly and we’re getting a light rain right now but it remains to be seen how long it will last…and 15 minutes later it has stopped and the sky is clearing. We really need a good rain, everything is suffering and it’s only going to get worse because the current administration is canceling and revoking funding for every climate mitigating related effort put in place by Biden, just as Trump did during his first time in office to the programs Obama put in place. Reopen those coal mines and fuck you if you get black lung, drill for more oil and fuck our remaining pristine wildernesses. Burn burn burn all because he doesn’t like the sight of wind turbines or solar farms and his acolytes are all yeah, that shit don’t work when the wind don’t blow and the sun don’t shine because they are fucking idiots who cannot comprehend the concept of batteries.
I have seen almost no butterflies this summer, a few fritillaries and skippers, maybe one monarch, no sulfurs, no hairstreaks, no giant swallowtails. The pipe vine is still intact, no pipevine swallowtail caterpillars which should have decimated it by now. Mississippi kites used to summer over here. I’d start seeing them in June. Finally started hearing their distinctive call, an occasional wheet whee a couple of weeks ago but never saw one until the other day, a single kite soaring where there should have been many. I guess they are migrating further north.
Haven’t made much progress on the drawing but I have finished three of the petals.
I went out in the back last Wednesday morning to see that the dish of the birdbath under the magnolia tree was laying on the ground. I have no idea what creature knocked it off the pedestal. I picked it up and put it back and while I was doing so I noticed the pedestal was cracked all around the narrowest part. This morning when I went out I was greeted by this.
Something is jumping up there for water, something big enough to knock the dish off and now the top half of the pedestal. A raccoon maybe? I don’t know. I don’t think a hawk would be heavy enough. No dogs loose that I’m aware of. So it’s off to the feed store for some concrete adhesive.
I had a whole post written about just some of the recent and continuing horrors and the continued degradation of the Constitution and our rights, the continued march to fascism and a totalitarian government but I just couldn’t publish it. Every day I delete 15 - 20 emails unread. I just can’t read essay after essay after essay telling us how fucked we are with no hope in sight of a return to a representative government. There is this though, Governor Gavin Newsom of California is trolling Trump big time, mocking him with all caps SM posts written in Trump’s style. A few examples to make you smile during these dark times:
We need more of this. Democrat leaders…get your heads out of your asses and fight fire with fire. These fascists want your fear, they revel in being called evil. What they can’t stand is mockery.
The suits that have taken over are so effing redick that we have to mock and laugh and point out their tiny weenies, Voting , Gerryrigged, voting suppression, voting is bullshit. See where it got us? Texas is the worst. But you live there so it can[t be as bad as its record , can it?
ReplyDeleteAnniversaries are for Hallmark and movies I reckon- the reality of living with a guy for that long is bloody heroic! I celebrate YOU!
I read recently that Texas has more registered democrats than republicans. It's just that the republicans play dirty and they have gerrymandered this state to keep in power. If they weren't aware of that fact they wouldn't be trying to redistrict it again before the midterms. they are lawless while claiming to be the party of law and order.
DeleteHeroic...hence my little quip.
You have to make fun of it or go nuts at the absurdity of the men who would claim to be leaders of our country! Come to think of it, I haven't seen as many butterflies as I did last year. Bees, I have plenty of those! My gardens are being eaten alive, I have been spraying Neem oil, but it rains every day and washes it off. Now I am inflamed with gout and can't seem to make it up the drive.
ReplyDeleteOf course now that I wrote that I've seen a painted lady and a giant swallowtail. Still though, so few.
DeleteCodex: considering how many butterflies I've seen recently I'm guessing they're changing their migratory patterns.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your anniversary.
Perhaps. A lot of the regular systems of nature are undergoing change.
DeleteCodex: No more doom and gloom. Most of it is untrue anyway. Yes. It's bad. But it can be changed.
ReplyDeleteI agree- this won't last forever and there will be loads of damage BUT, change is a given . We are not dead in the water...yet.
DeleteNot sure what you think is untrue about what's happening.
DeleteCodex: Not what I wrote. The doom and gloom is untrue. Which doesn't mean it's not bad.
DeleteFirst, Happy Milestone Anniversary!!! The Man jokes with me too about ours, he says he'd of Served less Time for Murder. *Eye Roll and LMAO* Secondly, yay for Newsome, and a standing Ovation... it all did make me Smile... Mind Fucking and Mocking that Moron by using his own tactics and Word Salad Vague language is Brilliant. He's such an insecure little Man with Daddy Issues that were never resolved. He's been damaged goods since early Childhood, he should be in a Long Term Care Facility or Mental Institution, being an Aging Psychopath is never gonna have any Happy Ending.
ReplyDeleteYour comments about the kites are interesting. I've seen only one in my life, down at the Brazoria refuge. I can't remember what time of year it was, but I think it was fall. I have a photo of it somewhere, sitting in a dead tree. I wouldn't have known what it was had another visitor to the refuge not stopped to ask me if I'd seen it. I really am surprised you've seen so few butterflies; they have been quite active around here -- or at least they were the last time I spent any real time outdoors. Other than work, it's been too danged hot to enjoy going out to see what's what. I'll say this -- everyone's thirsty. I've more lizards than I've ever seen coming to the water bowls.
ReplyDelete
DeleteThe kites are distinctive in the air, their wings come to a point. when we first moved out here there was one in one of the pecan trees and several smaller birds were hectoring it. I did see a painted lady and a swallowtail the other day but really so few.
The first Mississippi Kites I ever saw were hawking for insects over a baseball field in Kansas. Since then I have seen many of them, but the first experience still sticks out in my mind.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first moved out here there was one in one of the pecan trees and several smaller birds were hectoring it. They were not pleased at its presence.
DeleteAt this time of the year with lots of freshly harvested fruit and veg in the kitchen, we would get tons of tiny fruit flies. Not dangerous but persisting and they leave tiny specks of fly shit on the windows and other surfaces. This year, almost none. This is just one of many anecdotes, I know there's researchers with figures to back it all up but I cannot go there right now, I get so mad.
ReplyDeleteWe are just a little bit behind you and Marc, 46 years since we first met, 43rd wedding anniversary. We remember it occasionally, no big deal. There are specific songs/musicians, places, movies that play a role in our relationship and when we get a chance, we revisit these. Maybe you need to go and see the Rolling Stones next time they are in the neighbourhood?
Oh, god, fruit flies! They get in my compost container and I have to be good about emptying it or I get little maggots. I swear their eggs hatch in less than 24 hours.
DeleteForty-nine years is pretty impressive. Glen and I are only up to almost 41. I'm sure that like me, you wonder how in hell those years went by so fast.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a great number of butterflies here but some. I've noticed though that the basil I grew last year which attracted so many pollinators isn't getting nearly the number of them this year. Maybe it's just still too early. I've seen our kites, swirling and gliding as they do. They keep their distance though. Ha!
I am torn in my feelings about the posts Newsom's team is putting out. I mean- hurray! They are great and they are funny but in the end, what are they going to do but enrage the crazy monster even more? But trying to deal with him on an adult dignified level sure hasn't worked at all. I do not know.
I guess the years went by fast though there were some I thought we'd never make it. It is shocking to think I've spent 2/3 of my life with that man.
DeleteThe republicans are just aghast at this new tactic, berating Newsom about how undignified it is. The lack of awareness on their part is astounding. Are they completely ignorant of the trash Trump posts?
That is true -- Trump is so thin-skinned that being mocked is the only thing he understands and responds to. I say go for it, Gavin. It's sad that this is what politics has become but as you said, fight fire with fire.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth broke your bird bath? Wouldn't that have to be a really HUGE raccoon?!
Oh, and happy belated low-key anniversary. :)
DeleteI have no idea about the bird bath. The only thing I can imagine is a racoon but I never see any. I haven't put it back together yet, just turned the dish over and filled it with water.
DeleteI'm for finding a reason for a ceremonial affair where you dress at the tippy top of the formal wear pyramid. Ceremonial costumes can go wild and why not? Be a wild thing. Because you are.
ReplyDeleteYou wild beautiful thing you
DeleteSomeone should throw a high tea but for oer the top formal wear. Come to think of it, that's probably what the Art Car Ball is. (Which I have never been to)
DeleteCount me in
DeleteHappy anniversary! It's a pretty big achievement, staying together for that long without killing each other. Good job!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a near thing once or twice.
DeleteHappy anniversary belatedly! I hope the adhesive does the trick on the bird bath. It makes you want to set up a wildlife camera, doesn’t it. I would want to but wouldn’t bother! Yes, the mocking of the Orange Menace is a very good strategy.
ReplyDeleteHi Mitchell. The adhesive should work. I used it when a squirrel knocked over my statue of a naked lady and broke her in half. Granted, she was not on stable ground at the time and I startled the squirrel who took a flying leap from the ground off her head into a tree.
Delete