bonfire, rain, and bodily explosions

Correction on my previous post...Murdoch does not own the Washington Post, I meant the New York Post.

It's Saturday and it was raining when I woke up, not hard but a steady light rain. The weather prognosticators say it's going to rain all day and so far, yes, and that's fine as long as it's this same steady light rain. Of course I'm pretty sure that means no Farmers Market this morning and last week, while it wasn't raining it was cold and windy and wet. I did not venture out so I don't know if anyone bothered to set up or not. I wouldn't have.

Yesterday I torched the burn pile, had quite the bonfire going there for a few minutes while it consumed all the dry monster rose bush prunings and the mass of vines that I've cleared so far and whatever else had accrued before I piled those thing on top. Then I worked on the vines for about 40 minutes before I went in for lunch.

Moving further backward in time, Thursday at SHARE was busy, the most people ever since I've been volunteering there. We filled 42 food requests, mostly medium to large families. The little waiting to be interviewed area up front was packed when I got there at 9, which is when we open, and stayed packed until about 12:30 (we close at 1 PM). We were short one of the volunteers that do the interviewing so one of the guys that work in the back got pressed into service, I've been demoted, he told me. (We like our little niches in the back.)

Speaking of SHARE, it has become my first go to if I'm looking for a specific article of clothing as they have better quality than the thrift stores and...free. This summer I got two pairs of capris, one jeans and the other a lightweight cotton with lots of pockets and this fall a really nice blue long sleeve cotton shirt from L. L. Bean and when I told Jan I was looking for a lightweight jacket of sorts (she was still bringing the winter clothes out and putting away the summer clothes) she brought over five or six items...no, no, no, oh hell no, yes, no, no. The 'yes' is a buttery soft tailored suede like (but washable!) jacket. I love it.

And Thursday night is yoga at Hesed House here. One of the things about yoga is that some of the asanas and movements put pressure on your intestines that cause you to do something we try not to do in public. Like fart. And so, much to my chagrin, during one of the core strengthening exercises, I did. Now, it's not the first time I have farted during a yoga class but they've been barely audible little things. Not this time, no no, it was a sudden loud explosion and fortunately it was quick. I knew I had a fart building up but how do you stand up and excuse yourself for a minute in the middle of class while you go outside to release it. I was trying to have the proper muscles clamped down so it would release slowly, quietly but no such luck.

Ah well, no one laughed. Out loud anyway.

more progress, observing nature, and clueless people

Leading the yoga class on Mondays and Wednesdays is going well enough. I lead a different class than Abby does, more intermediate to advanced as opposed to beginner to intermediate, and people are still showing up though the number varies. Wednesday was iffy for me due to the thunderstorms we've been having this week but it cleared up in time and off I went. The thunderstorms seem to have passed but we are still getting rain, raining today, gentle but steady.

I made more progress on the mold yesterday, filling in the unopened flower but just to surface level. Still need to build it up. What you can't see is the green tones that went in first before I covered it up with the light yellow. I'm heading over to the studio in a few minutes to work on it some more.

I did finally get a good night's sleep last night. I woke up twice but was able to go back to sleep quickly.

There's a lot of racket out there this morning coming from the other side of the wild space between property lines. When I drove by to go pick up Robin and take her to work I saw that the house and garage of the junk man who gathered and recycled metal was being torn down. It's been fairly deserted for over a year now with someone showing up periodically to work and for a while the year before there was an RV parked in the front that someone seemed to be living in but not for awhile. I don't think they ever repaired that house after the Harvey flood and the guy had some health issues so perhaps he died.

Saw a dragonfly laying eggs in the water filled ditch the other evening slapping her tail against the surface of the water, dip down, slap, dip down, slap, while walking Minnie, a doomed effort as two days later the water had all been absorbed. And for the last couple of weeks when I close up the garage at night there has been one or two wrens in there, one of them the same wren I'm fairly sure judging by its sparse tail feathers. The other night when I pulled down the garage door it peeked out at me from behind one of the struts and I managed to get its picture.

A stroll around the yard and the confederate rose is finally putting on some buds, late from being frozen to the ground by the arctic freeze after it had started coming back after our normal winter, I'm getting no pecans again this year and have no idea why two years in a row, the bird of paradise has sent up a bloom stalk,

and the mist flower is blooming. The bees and butterflies love it.

Speaking of bees, the guy that bought Pam's old house completely cleared the yard of all her plantings and flower beds, most of which were bee friendly, and then he set up bee hives in the back yard after removing all the food sources. 

Today's progress on the mold. I know the frit in the small flower on the right looks pink but if my color sample and the formula for it are correct it will turn an orangey yellow after firing. I had considered doing it pink at one time but changed my mind. I just hope I have enough depth to get close to the sample color.

the continuing corruption of our government and destruction of our democracy

I'm testy today. Was testy yesterday. It's all feeling like too much. Every day a new revelation of the horror that is Trump and none of it is enough for his supporters to abandon him. He knew in January how bad the virus is, was going to be, and he purposely did nothing and lied about it for 6 months, is still lying about it, because, he says, he didn't want to create panic. People dying in droves was apparently just fine with him as long as the stock market didn't crash. Because that's the only panic he didn't want to create since he sees the stock market as crucial to his re-election to a job he doesn't like and didn't want in the first place.

And if that's not enough Barr and his corrupt DOJ is now going to defend Trump in the defamation lawsuit brought by the woman who accuses him of rape, a case that could be settled immediately if Trump would just give over a sample of his DNA, which anyone would do if they were innocent. So now us taxpayers are paying for Trump's defense in a case where he is obviously guilty.

And if that's not enough, there is a new whistleblower complaint from Brian Murphy, former Acting Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis, accusing DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf of twice telling him to withhold reporting on potential Russian threats to the election because it made Trump look bad and to focus on threats from China and Iran instead on orders from the White House national security advisor Robert O'Brian. Murphy was also told to downplay the domestic threat posed by white supremacists and focus on leftist movements like antifa and to modify intelligence assessments to make sure they aligned with Trump's public statements. When Murphy refused to do so he was demoted. Let me repeat that...Murphy was ordered to stop investigating Russia and to lie in intelligence reports.

All this and still Republicans won't denounce him. No wonder my afib has been acting up. The past week, week and a half, it's been very active, every day or day and a half, episodes that last half a day, not intense but after 6 hours I just want to sit on the couch. So I had my check-up with the electrophysiologist today, it had been 6 months since the last one. I had to call from the parking lot to let them know I was there and they would call me back when they had a room ready for me but I was able to go right up, the waiting room was empty. The nurse took my temperature then took me to the room where she took my blood pressure, a little high she said, yeah, I know, I could feel it going up on the drive in I told her. Then she did an ekg which was good. Then the doctor came in and I told him about the uptick in episodes and he said that if it keeps up we may have to do the ablation, which I really don't want to do, I said, to which he replied, nobody does. I told him I thought it was probably stress from paying too much attention to the horrible news and that I was trying to address that. I've also been thinking about the procedure more, I told him, but not until sometime next year. He stressed once again that the condition was not life threatening, just a quality of life issue and to come back in 3 months. If the current episodes settle down during that time, good, if not, we'll talk more seriously about the procedure.

That little cool front did make it down here after all. Not as cool as predicted but it was 68˚ yesterday morning, and this morning, at 8 AM and low humidity. So I took advantage of it yesterday and got the trimmer out and got it started by myself yay and trimmed the house yard til I ran out of gas, refueled and trimmed over at the shop yard around Pam's house and the gate and the rose bush and the banana trees and yellow bells til I ran out of gas. My right arm is really sore today.

So, what else, I've been working on my website again this week tackling the recent work gallery page which is so out of date. After the first day I was so confused trying to remember which folders all the changed files and images were in so I finally created two new folders, one for images and one for pages, to put all the changed things in until I get them uploaded.

Three happy making things in the yard...the rangoon creeper is continuing to bloom profusely on both sides of the fence,

the oxblood lilies are shooting up, yesterday there was just one,

and my little redbud tree in a pot, which nearly died this summer because I wasn't watering it enough and needs to be root pruned and repotted with fresh soil, sprouted new growth after I dragged it into the shade under the magnolia tree. I had noticed one day that the leaves were all limp and shriveling and so I gave it a good watering but by the next day or so all but 3 leaves had turned irrevocably brown, dead. That's when I moved it into the shade. I'll repot it this fall but I won't prune it back til spring just in case the branches are still alive. It's about 7' tall and is at least 20 years old, could be older, I just don't remember what year I got it as a freebie when it was about 4” tall during one of the many Trees For Houston giveaways.

I'm amazed that it's still alive.

labor on Labor Day weekend

Saturday, was a very busy day. It's Monday evening now so I have to try and cast back and remember why it was a busy day. We decided to sell the four chairs from our old dining room table. I bought those chairs from an unfinished furniture store when the kids were still in elementary school, I think, making them over 30 years old. I sanded those fuckers down and stained them and we had used them ever since until I bought the new table and chairs at an estate sale. My granddaughter Jade claimed the table and chairs and then returned the chairs forthwith because they are really uncomfortable, she says. So since we have 8 chairs (6 with the new table and two 'closet' chairs, you know the chairs that masquerade as a closet, for clothes too dirty to be hung up or put away, clean enough to wear a few more times) we decided to see if we could sell them at the 'estate' sale so I loaded those in the back of the truck along with the mini-fridge and a queen size bed frame that got abandoned here by our grandson and a spiral library staircase for the upper shelves that belonged to my father that I did not want but ended up with after he died and took them over to Pam's old house where the ladies conducting the sale were doing what they do, unpack and set up and price. Her two daughters and one son-in-law were here and she borrowed another truck from a friend so two trucks we got the buffet for home and white chest for the new room in the shop I was taking and backyard furniture and stuff. Did I mention I was soaked when I came in? That I stripped down naked and waited til I cooled off enough to take a shower? That evening I went over to my daughters house to do the dog and cat thing while they were gone for the weekend.

Sunday morning the same thing. Dog and cat thing. My sister and her daughter, here for a week from New Mexico, got the garage at the old house empty. One more thing to mark off the list.

Monday, Pam and daughter went and got one truckload of plants in pots. I joined them with my truck for two more truckloads of plants. Still at least another truckload or two of plants and yard stuff. Stopped a little after 11 AM. 

Did I mention I was soaked when I came in? That I stripped naked and stood there til I cooled off enough to take a shower? Our friend Gene whose studio we stored for three years had cabin fever and so brought out the three section steel sink he was giving us that he didn't have room for and we had a nice visit. After our late lunch I went out to my daughter's house and visited and appropriated 7 spindles from their bundle so Rocky could finish the last handrail of the little porch on Pam's new house.

I noticed a 'maker's tag' on the inside of one of the doors of the buffet, or sideboard as the company called it, I got from Pam...Summers guaranteed hand-made furniture. 

I looked them up. They have a FB page. English company which closed in 1950, the year I was born. The son and granddaughter live in the US. I sent them pictures and he says this piece was probably late 1930s.

We got 3/4” of rain on Sunday, at Pam's old house 2 1/2”, accompanied with thunder and lightning. Not enough to lift the burn ban which is a shame because a very large limb fell off the native pecan at the back edge of the property sometime Sunday or Sunday night. Too bad it didn't land on the bitch's container and fall onto her property. It probably did hit her container but it fell our way onto the end of one of the flower beds which is mostly daylilies and salvias so I don't think it damaged anything but it's going to be a bitch to cut up and haul away. The big end must be 10" in diameter.

All that work wore me out I guess because I didn't wake up til almost 9 this (Tuesday) morning.

bingo, storms, and flowers

Everybody got their 2020 bingo cards ready? Anyone have two hurricanes at one time headed for the Gulf Coast for August? Tropical Storm Laura and imminent Tropical Storm Marco (still just a tropical depression but strengthening) are both being tracked to hit the Gulf Coast. Marco almost dead on for us, Laura to the east possibly just days apart. 

Yay us! They're already going on about hurricane preparedness.

We got an unexpected 1 1/2” of rain in about 2 hours yesterday. I think the forecast was about a 10% chance. So I've been out rethinking my little earthwork which didn't work to keep the rain water away from the slab and working on it some. I have the pile of dirt that I saved when Rocky took out the big brick planter by the front door. It's full of rocks which make it good for this purpose I think so I shoveled many shovelfuls of dirt to build up the area beside this section of the slab so water hopefully drains away because this is in general is one of the lowest parts of the yard and water collects there, employed miscellaneous materials to create a sort of skirt to deflect the water pouring off the roof line when it rains hard even with the gutters and downspouts. Of course this is just one small section of the slab that I worry about but ya gotta start somewhere. So this is my hurricane preparation. Water diversion.

not pretty but hopefully effective

The storm today came with some high winds that, big surprise, knocked dead branches out of the pecans and oaks. It also keeled over two of my banana trees. That makes three since one of them had already keeled over weeks ago. And all three were blooming but only one was making fruit. These trees have gotten so tall and the banana blooms are so heavy, especially with fruit, that I'm not surprised the high wind bent them over. I planted the initial three small to little more than a sprout trees on the edge of the drain field, maybe even on the edge of the drain field and they have grown really tall. I don't imagine I'll have a single one standing but for the newest if a hurricane comes this way but they will grow back and quicker than you might think.

My sister has taken up residence in the new house. Her and the Demon Duo spent their first night last night in the new house. So half the transition is complete. The other half is getting the old house ready to sell and selling it. My sister told me a few years ago that she knew she would be moving one more time before the 'final' move when you get relegated to a care facility. Hopefully we will be some of the lucky ones who can live and die at home. No idea when where or why, just a certainty. Well, now we know when where and why.

A few more blooms...

the rangoon creeper also likes this heat and is putting on another flush,

my other althea which didn't have an open flower the other day,

and much to my surprise I spotted this green milkweed, maybe spider milkweed, growing in my neighbor's ditch when I was walking the dog, surprised because I didn't think this type grew around here. Fortunately she's as bad about keeping her yard and ditch mowed as I am so I'm keeping my eye on it as it goes to seed because I want some.

and here we are again,

riots and violence and destruction because privileged white people don't listen. Or should I say privileged racist white people don't care how many black people are murdered. And did you see the video of the white guy who walks up with a hammer and starts smashing windows and then leaves? Or that the police precinct building that burned was evacuated 20 minutes before the fire started (granted this was just a tweet or FB post I saw) or that people are reporting on social media that they are seeing white people setting fires and smashing stuff or that the police chief of Minneapolis has reported that all the people arrested were from out of town? So who knows who is really starting the violence and fires. It's not unheard of for cops to plant guns and drugs and it's not such a big leap to think that certain cops and outside agitators would not hesitate to start the violence and destruction and then blame it on the protesters. So many white nationalists and nazis and racists WANT violence and an excuse to gun down black people in the street and they have been infiltrating police departments for decades. At least they have arrested the cop and charged him with murder, albeit 3^rd degree murder and 2^nd degree manslaughter. But he'll get off because they're all in this together. The medical examiner has stated that strangulation was not the cause of death even though anyone who saw that video knows exactly how he died. And the looting? Plenty of videos showing white people helping themselves to merchandise are on social media but you won't see any of those on the news.

For those of you who don't understand the rioting, think it doesn't help their cause, what else is left for them? Black Americans are killed by police far more often than white Americans. In 2019, 370 white people and 235 black people were shot and killed by police. On the surface it seems more white people were killed until you realize that black people make up only 12% of the population, 12% of the population accounts for 39% of the people killed by cops in 2019 so proportionally, per capita, far more black people are killed by police than white people. Black people have tried everything...being submissive, being compliant, writing letters, giving speeches, protesting peacefully and still they are shot dead unarmed by police and civilians, still they constantly have to deal with white people calling the police and being arrested for simply living their lives in public. Why do they finally riot? Because nothing else fucking gets attention! Nothing else has ever instituted change. Take a knee during the national anthem to point out racial injustice and you get spit on and fired. They are angry and frustrated and horrified when all they want is to be left alone, to not be killed by police and citizens who think they have the right to be judge, jury, and executioner over an accusation, to just live their lives with the same sense of safety that every. single. white. person. enjoys.

And what is Trump doing? He is throwing gas on embers, looting equals shooting, encouraging violence against black Americans. He wants nothing more than to use the National Guard or the Military Police (which have been put on alert) to fire on black civilians, to declare some sort of martial law, complaining that the Mayor of Minneapolis isn't being forceful enough against these protesters. He wants desperately to use the strong arm tactics his buddies Putin and the royal Saudis use. He threatened violence to the protesters outside the White House last night and is calling for his supporters to show up tonight.

If you still think we don't have a problem with racism in this country, consider this. In Atlanta, white militia members dressed their children up in camo, vests, shields, gas masks, helmets, and assault weapons and spread them out in a line to confront protesters. Their children! 

       

Their children are being taught that black people are scum and thugs and don't deserve to be treated with respect or even listened to and must be dealt with accordingly.

It is past time for our society to actually put into practice what we claim to be, a place of opportunity for all Americans regardless of skin color but that will never happen as long as we refuse to call out these white supremacists and nazis for what they really are...domestic terrorists...and then deal with them accordingly.

Edit: I read today statements by the mayor of Minneapolis, the governor of Minnesota, the police chief of Minneapolis, and a report by a resident of Minneapolis that the city is under siege. Peaceful protests against the murder of George Floyd take place during the day and after curfew, bands of roving white right wing militia members spread out and start fires and bash in storefronts, even removing plywood put up for protection. There are eye witnesses to this but by the time the police and National Guard show up they have melted away. Predictably AG Barr is blaming 'the radical left' and Antifa for the rioting and destruction without any proof whatsoever and despite the fact that some of those arrested are linked to the far right militias that have been threatening their wet dream of a new civil/race war ever since Trump was elected and in several cases it is the cops themselves that are escalating the violence.

week 9

I have not paid close attention this week as my need to keep informed is at odds with my need to keep emotionally stable. This country is still in free fall and will be til November when hopefully we will land on our feet.

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Still no plan from the government, still no nationwide testing because Trump doesn't want to know and doesn't want the country and world to know how widespread the virus is here, infections and deaths still climbing. Trump still bored. Trump #2 son calling the shutdowns a Democratic hoax to defeat his daddy and thinks the virus will magically disappear on election day. Trump back to blaming anyone and everyone for his lack of performance. Trump yelling Obamagate with no specifics and says everyone knows what the crime is. Another inspector general fired, this time from the state department for opening an investigation into Pompeo's misuse of government funds and personnel. The Senate still does nothing. Trump and Barr still using their positions to retaliate against Trump opponents. People still protesting the safety regulations and getting ugly about it. People still refusing to abide by businesses' requirements to wear a mask to enter and getting ugly about it. Republicans deeply worried about their reelection chances because they have allowed Trump to get away with everything start accusing their Democrat opponents of pedophilia or dementia while actively supporting republican pedophiles and one very demented president. Trump and his sniveling family members still complaining that the American public doesn't appreciate them enough. And it just goes on.

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Some good news. Therapeutics company Sorrento has made what it believes could be a breakthrough in potential treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that leads to COVID-19. Read the article here. 

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There's been a lot of claims of tyranny and trampled rights from the anti-safety regulation crowd about their temporary inconvenience. That they are out there protesting against safety regulations without being arrested shows no rights are being suppressed but still they act as if they were being marched into concentration camps instead of being asked to wear masks and wash their hands and stay home unless it's absolutely necessary. Amazing what the selfish crowd thinks is absolutely necessary regardless of who is put in harm's way as long as they get what they want. There was an outright physical tussle between an employee wearing a mask and a customer refusing to wear a mask when they had to physically remove the customer for refusing to complying and was doing her best not to be shoved out the door. (At the end of the video you could hear a person out of sight yelling that they had been standing in line for 3 hours for food. At Red Lobster. 3 hours. Seriously, go to the grocery store, buy a lobster, and cook it at home. It's easy and will taste better.) And the violence is escalating...security guards shot for not allowing unmasked people into a store, death threats against the governor of Michigan, threats of violence in general. None of which has been condemned by Trump or Republicans.

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With freedom comes responsibility.

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My county has one new case, up to 42, still no deaths. The state, however, after being opened prematurely by our Republican governor, has seen an increasing number of cases and deaths, just like all the states that have opened up.

Gee, who could have predicted that.

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So far all my family and friends are safe and healthy and staying in, working from home as much as possible. Nine weeks of no outside activities...no yoga classes, no estate sales, no events at Hesed House to check out, no neighborhood get-togethers, no running to whatever store for whatever is needed and to tell the truth, not much is actually needed, and I've managed to keep busy enough but now, it's summer and too hot for most of what has kept me busy. I have a new set of colored pencils that Jade sent me for my birthday I could draw with, I have watercolors and paper I could paint with, I have stuff to make models for new sculptures with, I could even get out the modeling glass and see if any of it is still usable but I'm feeling completely unmotivated in that regard. Is this quarantine ennui or just regular ennui?

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Current US statistics from Worldometer.com as of today  5/17/20, 16:00 GMT (last eight weeks' totals in parenthesis): cases – 1,512,267 (1,384,681, 1,168985, 976,403, 741,230, 534,494, 312,223, 123,958, 38,757); deaths – 90,206 (81,724, 67,954, 54,965, 39,103, 20,637, 8,483, 2,231, 400); (no longer care about recoveries).

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The rate of deaths has slowed somewhat but that may change soon as the effects of rescinding the stay at home orders and opening of businesses are made apparent.

week 1     400 deaths

week 2    1,831

week 3    6,552

week 4    12,154

week 5    18,466

week 6    15,862

week 7    12,989

week 8 (8 days)    13,770

week 9 (6 days)    8,482

week 7

I couldn't do it this week. I just couldn't take all the evil, stupid, hateful stuff being perpetrated by Trump and the Republican party. It's just too damn depressing. Infection and death tolls still rising, lies, partisanship, gaslighting, fomenting insurrection, threats, juvenile name calling, silencing anyone who disagrees with Trump's take on anything, prematurely ending safety precautions, character assassination, more lies, hoarding necessary supplies, the ridiculous political posturing like Ted Cruz wanting Bill Barr to investigate the repression of religious freedom because large gatherings are temporarily prohibited to protect the general population, American Nazis out in full force storming legislative houses while the police stand there and do nothing. Where's the fucking SWAT team?

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All these people out there protesting armed to the hilt, you know the ones, wanting another civil war because that's their fantasy, seeing themselves as big heroes, screaming in people's faces, holding signs with the phrase Nazis put over the gates of their death camps. I'm thinking these people failed American history since apparently they don't know how the first Civil War ended. The insurgents lost. All those wannabes who play at being in a militia and doing their cosplay drills, the way they present themselves shows just how ugly and dark their hearts are, so full of hate and barely restrained violence. They claim that they are not posers but ex-military. So I have to wonder if they still want to play soldier, they still want to protect America, why are they ex-military? Why aren't they still in the military? I'd like to see their discharge papers and the reason they are ex-military.

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This is so not the America I grew up in. Well, the racism, yes, but we were proud of being the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free, a country of immigrants looking for a better life, where our founding document proclaimed that ALL men are created equal and deserving of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We aren't that country anymore. Now our politicians and citizens are proclaiming that segments of our population are disposable...the elderly and the sick, the poor, the blacks and browns, the homeless...because when all those old, sick, poor people die there will be more housing available for themselves, less money being paid out for SS and Medicare and food assistance so they can funnel those funds to the rich. Just let them die so I can get my Big Mac and my haircut and my manicure. So when all the old people die with their accumulated knowledge, when all the poor people and the people of color die, who are they going to ask for advice, who do they think is going to pick their vegetables, pack their meat, clean their houses, do their yard work, their laundry, cook that Big Mac, give that manicure? When all the real essential workers are dead, then what?

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Heather Richardson's Letters this week were all depressing but none more so than yesterday's. I weep for this country, for the country that was and the country it has become. I no longer have any faith that we can boot Trump out. The fix is in, even the free press is cowed refusing to call him out, letting him control the narrative and without a free press we are doomed.

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There's a woman in this town, a tea partier or libertarian, who has been incensed from the beginning at the stay at home orders and the closing of her struggling restaurant, one that wasn't open every day anyway and mostly just for lunch, a restaurant that is founded in good principles...organic and locally sourced...a restaurant that she sunk a ridiculous amount of her own money into a building she does not own (I want to say $30K but I really have no idea in addition to the grant she got), renovating and restoring it and they did a fabulous job on a building she does not own. It's struggling because she opened this upscale restaurant in this town, a religious republican rural town of less then 9,000 people. She can't keep a chef because once they move here and discover the nature of this mean little town where there is absolutely nothing to do and is controlled by the original five founding families, they leave. She has railed on FB about the safety measures, it's repression, it's tyranny, let the people use their own common sense and personal responsibility. She points to Sweden's 'success' in controlling the virus, never having issued a lockdown but that's not entirely true. Gatherings larger than 50 people are banned so no sports, no concerts, high schools and universities are closed, social distancing is recommended, work from home if you can. Add to that the culture of Sweden is vastly different from that of the US. Swedes trust their government, their institutions, and other Swedes to do the right thing and because they are well educated and have a social conscience, they care about their community. Here in the US, we are uneducated and the national spirit is freedom for the individual to do whatever the fuck they want no matter who it harms. And Sweden's success is still iffy and they have a high death rate, as of April 8 7.68% of those tested positive have died.

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Current US statistics as of today 5/3/20, 16:29 GMT (last six weeks' totals in parenthesis): cases – 1,168985 (976,403, 741,230, 534,494, 312,223, 123,958, 38,757); deaths – 67,954 (54,965, 39,103, 20,637, 8,483, 2,231, 400); recoveries – 174,017 (118,633, 68,610, 30,548, 14,828, 3,238, 178). Infections and deaths are still rising, no state that is reopening this week has achieved Trump's own guidelines of decreasing infections and deaths for 14 days before reopening. And Trump himself and his Republican toadies are praising these reopenings because he is tired of the whole pandemic thing so he's changing the narrative, just like he always does, demeaning anyone who speaks the truth.

week 6

OMG, it just never ends and I'm not talking about the pandemic but about the continuing shit show of the Trump administration.

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All you American citizens married to immigrants without SS numbers who file tax returns jointly won't be getting your $1200. You are excluded. And those of us on SS may have to wait up to 5 months to get ours. In other words, we won't get it either. But certain businesses that support Trump and McConnell? They're getting millions from the fund that is supposed to support small business.

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And now McConnell wants states to declare bankruptcy for 'mismanagement' instead of getting federal help since they are running out of money for jobless benefits and other extraordinary expenses like having to pay exorbitant prices to buy the necessary PPEs that FEMA et al keeps confiscating from blue states to sell to middlemen who will then sell to the states or, as Trump implied, is hoarding them and only releasing them to red states as punishment of course but does he think there are no Republicans in blue states? The governor of Illinois finally arranged for a secret mission to China with a private plane in the dead of night to purchase PPEs in constant fear they would be found out and the material snatched away from them. McConnell's attack on blue states (that, incidentally, pay in to the government far more than they receive and as a result are the ones that subsidize the red states) is in stark contrast to his own state of Kentucky that receives far more federal aid than they pay in, in fact, receives the most federal aid of any state and is still the poorest state in the country. Where's all that money going Mitch? I read one article that stated that McConnell's goal with this idea is to break government workers' pensions and in the process break the labor union that keeps their pensions intact.

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After his insistence that the malaria drug was an effective treatment and a study done at the VA proved that it did not help and in fact killed people, now Trump suggested at his briefing today that sunlight kills the virus and there might be a way to inject UV rays into the body or clean out the lungs with disinfectant cause it kills the virus in one minute. One minute! It might work, it might not. Where did he get this idea? From a group that peddles industrial bleach as a virus cure. Holy fucking shades of Mengele. He's already caused some of our veterans to die with his insistence that the malaria drug works.

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Meat and food processing plants are closing down after the virus runs rampant in the work force and some may never reopen. This is bad news as it may result in food shortages down the line since food doesn't just magically make its way to the grocery stores from farms and ranches.

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Trump is still blocking the $10 billion Congress allocated to the USPS unless it immediately quadruples its prices for package shipping in a bid to undercut people's preference for USPS over the expensive Trump donors FedEx and UPS. FYI, the post office was self-sustaining before Congress passed a law in 2006 that imposed extraordinary costs on the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future (covering postal employees that aren't even born yet). This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation.

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In his continuing attempt to blame the WHO for his own incompetence, America will not participate in the WHO's and other world leaders' efforts to speed up the response to covid-19.

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The new leader of the free world, Angela Merkel of Germany, and the other European nations have come together to organize a worldwide response and vaccine effort and the US was not invited to join.

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A former labradoodle dog breeder has been appointed to lead the US Pandemic Task Force. I kid you not.

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Unexplainable rashes now join loss of taste and smell, fever, cough, difficulty breathing, and body aches as symptoms of covid-19. There is still no treatment besides IV fluids and oxygen, there is no vaccine, and no promise of immunity if you get it and recover. And now they are finding that people in their 30s and 40s are throwing blood clots left and right and stroking out.

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I have good health, maybe better than good my heart rhythm problem aside, and yet I have moments of fear of getting infected (was that cough last night covid or just a reaction to all the plant dust and debris from the fence, are these body aches covid or just the result of weeks of pulling on stubborn vines, was the sweat I woke up with in the middle of the night a fever from covid or because I was hot under the quilt) especially after I read anything about how horrible it is to have this virus.

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One piece of good news, after walking out of several of his incomprehensible 'briefings' or refusing to take any questions or lashing out at the reporters when he does, Trump's handlers have finally convinced him that he is only harming his chances of reelection with these daily shit shows and he's going to stop having them!

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My county, after holding steady for about a week at 35 cases has now added one more. We're at 36 but no deaths.

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Current US statistics as of today 4/26/20, 19:04 GMT (last five weeks' totals in parenthesis): cases – 976,403 (741,230, 534,494, 312,223, 123,958, 38,757); deaths – 54,965 (39,103, 20,637, 8,483, 2,231, 400); recoveries – 118,633 (68,610, 30,548, 14,828, 3,238, 178). There is still no country-wide testing, contact tracing, forced quarantine for exposed individuals, or income support, all tactics that have proven to work in other countries, here in the US and despite that, people are protesting the stay at home orders and want businesses opened back up because they want a fucking haircut not caring who they infect or if they get infected and then take it home to their families. This is what we are left with, the knowledge that a portion of our population  is willing to sacrifice anyone for their selfish need. MAGA!

week 5

When state governors were asking for federal help in acquiring PPEs, tests, and medical equipment, Trump told them they were on their own. Trump desperately wants to get the country back to work, not because he is concerned about the financial impact on the workers but because he sees the economy as his only chance of reelection and so is talking about ending the closure of all non-essential businesses at the end of the month if not before regardless of how many people are still getting sick and ordering the governors to end their quarantines only he doesn't have the power to do that. So in response, the governors of states in the northeast and the west coast and the north central have formed pacts to help each other to determine when and how they will lift the lockdown orders in their states in order to get people back to work and life back to normal regardless of what Trump tells them to do. Trump went ballistic at his briefing rally Monday, opening with a campaign video produced there in the White House touting what a good job Trump has done in combating the virus which we all know is a pack of lies. Then he ranted on about how he was the president and he had total authority to open the states. The truth is there is nothing in the constitution and no legislation that gives him power to override any state's public health measures.

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After initiating post mortem testing, NY added more than 3,700 more deaths to their total. Approximately 1 in 800 New Yorkers have died from the coronavirus.

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A NY Times article  today reports changes in the way doctors are treating covid-19 patients. “Instead of quickly sedating people who had shockingly low levels of oxygen and then putting them on mechanical ventilators, many doctors are now keeping patients conscious, having them roll over in bed (lay on their stomachs), recline in chairs and continue to breathe on their own — with additional oxygen — for as long as possible.” “Some patients, by taking oxygen and rolling onto their sides or on their bellies, have quickly returned to normal levels” making intubation (inserting a breathing tube and being put on a ventilator) unnecessary though it doesn't seem to work as well in older patients. I've already decided that, if I get infected and get so sick they want to put me on a ventilator, I'm going to decline as a very small percentage of people on ventilators recover and when they do their whole bodies are fucked up.

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Trump has, in fact, withheld funds from the World Health Organization in an attempt to shift blame by accusing them of the very things that Trump has done or rather, has not done.

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In another round of threats and bluster, Trump has said he will adjourn Congress so he can make recess appointments if the Senate doesn't start confirming his nominees. Congress has not adjourned even though they aren't sitting in chambers due to the virus and social distancing. While Trump does have a constitutional right to do this, he can only do it under certain conditions which he doesn't have. And the fact is that he either hasn't nominated anyone or the people he nominates are so unqualified that even the Republican Senate won't confirm them. McConnell's Senate has however been stacking the judiciary with right wing judges many of whom are considered unqualified by their peers in an attempt to put the president out of reach of any check from Congress or the courts. They're assuming, I guess, that their voter suppression tactics will prevent any Democrat from ever gaining the presidency again because I don't see them supporting an untouchable Democratic president.

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His bluff called by the governors who are following the health guidelines set out by Trump's own administration re reopening the economy, which Trump is desperate to do as he links his reelection to a good economy, he now says that the governors are in charge and he is talking with them daily and he issued reasonable guidelines for reopening the economy based on testing, leveling out of infections and a lowering death rate and then told the governors that the federal government would not help the states with the necessary testing. In response and I'm sure at Trump's behest, his Republican support groups and all the fringe idiots and his cult followers started mounting protests at the state capitals about the stay at home orders demanding their (surprise, surprise) Democratic governors open up their state's economies NOW. And then he tweets “LIBERATE MINNESOTA”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN”, “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”, all states with Democratic governors, inciting violence. And in this way he plans to blame the Democrats for the faltering economy. Remember, Trump is nothing if not vindictive.

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Trump is setting us up for a more deadly second wave.

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The money that the Democrats fought for for small businesses has run out and it didn't go to small businesses but to larger businesses and chains and by far the vast majority went to businesses in red states once again proving that Trump and his administration doesn't give a shit about most Americans.

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Anyone else getting healthcare spam headlined Trumpcare?

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I continue to be eternally grateful that we had the foresight to escape a big urban area. Life goes on pretty much as before except for no extracurricular activities ie no in person yoga classes or dashing off to the big box store for something I want but don't necessarily need or hanging with friends and family or hugs. Even though my age puts me in the most at risk category, I am grateful that I am old enough that I don't have a job I can't go to or have kids at home I have to educate or have parents to care for or have loans I can't repay.

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Thirty five cases now in my county.

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Current US statistics as of today 4/19/20, 15:51 GMT (last four weeks' totals in parenthesis): cases – 741,230 (534,494, 312,223, 123,958, 38,757); deaths – 39,103 (20,637, 8,483, 2,231, 400); recoveries – 68,610 (30,548, 14,828, 3,238, 178). Some good news...even though deaths doubled this week, recoveries jumped way up. The death tally, though, is hardly complete because it doesn't include the rise in deaths at home. And this is just the first wave.

tales from a COVID-19 self-quarantine, part 4

(These reports quickly went from personal anecdotes to following the news because as the quarantine deepened we all settled down into our new and solitary routines. My days are all the same...work on the fence, household chores, work on drawings).

Monday...

16 positive cases now in my county.

We're getting more and more reluctant to venture out even to the grocery store.

Republicans continue to engage in voter suppression trying to purge another 240,000 voters. Michigan's republican legislature refused to delay the election tomorrow at the democratic governor's request in order to send out mail-in ballots to voters so they wouldn't have to possibly expose themselves while waiting in line to vote.

Trump continues to push the malaria drug for use with covid-19 because he is invested in it's manufacture, not because he thinks it will help people.

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Tuesday...

My county now has 18 positive cases of covid-19.

Seven big cats, lions and tigers, in the Bronx Zoo have developed covid-19 from an asymptomatic infected worker. While we can apparently pass it on to cats, scientists are pretty sure they can't pass it to us.

Trump has attacked the WHO and is thinking about halting US funding. During a pandemic. Cause that's just the kinda guy he is.

Trump is refusing to consider national vote by mail because he says 'they' cheat, 'they' gather up the mail in ballots and cheat. And then he walked out in the middle of his own presser because none of the questions from reporters were going well for him.

Trump fired the guy who was supposed to conduct oversight on the distribution of the $2T pandemic relief fund and is reportedly getting ready to fire all 7 of the rest of the Inspector Generals.

In a direct conflict of the separation of church and state in the constitution, Trump plans to send churches part of the relief money so that they can pay their pastors and utilities to buy their votes.

The silence from the Senate and House Republicans is deafening. I can only surmise that they hate democracy. I never thought I would witness the dismantling of our government and our democracy and yet here I am.

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Wednesday...

People still getting sick, states are still having their purchases of PPE etc. confiscated by the federal government, federal government still not sending states what they need, Trump still bragging about his ratings and what a great job he's doing, still using the pandemic as cover while he and McConnell continue to push through unqualified right wing judges. In other words just more of the same of the Trump shit show.

Bernie Sanders finally dropped out of the presidential campaign.

Pence refused to let Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, and other medical experts talk with reporters from CNN and MSNBC  because they stopped broadcasting all of Trump's ill-disguised rallies, only airing the pertinent parts about the pandemic, and Trump barred their reporters from the press briefings  because they ask the tough questions which he really doesn't like.

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Thursday...

My county now has 24 positive cases of covid-19 with 6 recovered.

That little trip the completely unqualified and now resigned acting Secretary of the Navy Modly took to harangue the shipmates of and insult the captain he fired for protecting his sailors cost us taxpayers over $243,000 and that was just the cost of the plane ride to Guam and back. Trump says he doesn't know the guy. Doesn't know the guy he appointed and was sitting next to at a football game. There's a picture.

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Friday...

Two more cases bringing the total to 26 with 7 recovered.

Trump has ended federal support for covid-19 testing and we haven't even reached the pandemic peak yet, says widespread testing isn't going to happen and isn't needed to open the economy. Why? Because he and his family and his toadies have all been tested. That's all he cares about as he continues to withhold lifesaving gear and equipment from those who need it unless they are suitably 'appreciative'. That and more testing increases the known number of cases and the more cases the worse he looks.

The post office is nearing crises level with many postal workers ill. They requested financial aid and Trump told his aides not to give it to them. Why? Because he wants to privatize the USPS. He wants it to go under. And also because Republicans don't want a national vote by mail because they know that if everyone gets to vote, they will lose.

Trump wants to lower farm worker pay to help farmers. So yeah, let's cut the pay of one of the lowest paid essential workers in the country.

2,000 people died from the virus today.

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Saturday...

Now that all us humans have been sent to our rooms for disrespecting the planet, the Himalayas are visible from India and whales are swimming in areas they have avoided.

Walking the dog, we stop and and chat with neighbors who are also out...standing six feet apart.

Some of the chatter on Twitter is about hair cuts. People are missing their monthly trims. Do I let it grow long or let a family member cut it or try it myself? I only get one haircut a year usually late spring when I start putting it up in a ponytail or bun. I like it short in the summer, out of my face and off my neck, and then let it grow for winter so I'm missing my annual haircut. Pretty soon I'll be able to braid it again.

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Sunday...

Trump continues to show why running the government like a business is a bad idea. He confiscates supplies ordered by the states, gives some to FEMA to distribute but most to the business sector which is allowed to sell to recipients, ventilators have nearly doubled in price, because Trump says they already have distribution lines set up except the most needy aren't necessarily getting the supplies while other places are getting supplies they don't need. Why? Because the business sector sells and distributes the supplies to their established customers.

Current US statistics as of today 4/12/20, 14:10 GMT (last three week's totals in parenthesis): cases – 534,494 (312,223, 123,958, 38,757); deaths – 20,637 (8,483, 2,231, 400); recoveries – 30,548 (14,828, 3,238, 178). Yay! Trump finally made us #1 in something...the most cases, the most deaths. MAGA!