well, that didn't work, or that, but this did

The yellow bells aka Esperanza aka Tacoma stans finally started blooming. Mine usually start later then ones around as mine get a lot of shade and they like sun.

Saturday - Well, crap. Changed out the relays and still can't get those switches to come on. I guess a call to the manufacturer is in order on Monday to see if they have any helpful hints.

Glory be! We got about an inch of rain Friday in about 20 minutes. So nice not to have to go out first thing in the morning and set up the sprinkler.

I did finally cut back all the gone by purple coneflowers last week but it took me three days of effort in the heat and two full garden carts.

Went to the library the other day and as I was approaching a man passed me on the sidewalk and said 'god bless you' and kept right on walking. Um, OK. Did I look like I needed blessing? I suppose he thought he was just being a good christian spreading whatever but I'd just as soon his god not take notice of me cause that god lets all kinds of horrible things happen and then expects to be glorified for it. Not sure which is more annoying, this or the ubiquitous 'have a blessed day'. What does that even mean? I know what a good day is like but what is a 'blessed' day like? Angels circling around you playing harps?

I've started calling the cat Chloe but mostly just kitty. After a couple of weeks showing no interest in going outside she started going out with me and the dog first thing in the morning for about 10 minutes in the little backyard and then coming back in until Saturday when she jumped the fence and stayed out for a couple of hours before she came back in. Same Sunday morning and today though now I let her out the door to the garage.

I bought this scratching block for Chloe

and this was the warning sticker on it...

it's cardboard, cardboard that you shouldn't let your kids play with or near. Really? The human race is doomed.

Sunday - I finally took care of three tasks...repairing 2 wind chimes that have been laying on my work table for months (I'm really glad to get this one back up) 

and replacing the parachute cord that the bird feeder hangs from with thin galvanized wire. Let's see that little bastard squirrel tightrope walk that! Edit: And of course he did. I looked up today and there that bastard was chowing down. Oh I was pissed, went running out yelling at it and he scampered back to the tree hanging upside down as he traversed the wire.

Monday - Before calling Paragon this morning, Marc had one more thing he wanted to try and voila! It works!!! There's a master relay that controls all the others and he switched it out with the one from the old kiln and now he's doing a test firing with a never used mold we made to see if our plaster was old. By the time this test run is done, we will have only lost a week and a half.

Today is a good day...so far and fingers crossed.

 

over it and those fucking fuckers

This toe has interrupted the flow of my life and I am totally over it. I'm bored. I'm tired all the time from the inactivity, stiff and achy and I don't feel good. I don't even feel like doing the things I can do, like work on the drawing for the box. I've been on my foot more and more but after an hour or two my toe is a little more swollen and weepy so I go in, soak it, and spend the rest of the day reading or watching TV.

Haven't done my yoga at home or in class since I had the toenail removed but this morning I rolled out my mat and did an abbreviated routine. Most of the asanas were fine; down dog, up dog, plank, anything on the toes I sort of skipped over. Not that it hurt exactly, just twitchy. Anyway, I already feel a little better having done what I could and managed to get the grocery shopping done.

Marc mowed yesterday, going around the clumps of things still blooming even a single plant like this yellow coneflower and larkspur, and the yard looks so much tidier and when I can get out there and trim around the flowerbeds it will look even better.

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Well, the shit has hit the fan with the leaked draft of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs Wade. Consider this...two justices who sit on the highest court of the land lied under oath during their confirmation hearings when they claimed that R v W was settled law but the Chief Justice thinks leaking the draft of their decision is the “most egregious betrayal” instead of two justices saying one thing under oath and then proceeding to undermine what they considered settled and reaffirmed law. The Court wants to send abortion access to the individual states because the right for women to have bodily autonomy is not specifically listed in the 1^st amendment as an 'inalienable right' as if the right for a woman to control when or if she has children has nothing to do with “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Many of the rights our citizens currently have fall into this category. This is just a ploy to enable the far religious right to impose their opinions and beliefs on all women. There are 20+ states that already have laws on the books banning abortion, many ban them with no exceptions, ready and waiting for the Supreme Court to overthrow R v W. They are perfectly happy for a woman to die from ectopic pregnancies, for an 11 year old victim of incest to have that baby, for a dead fetus to rot in the womb killing the mother, for a woman to carry a severely malformed fetus to term that won't survive past birth, for a victim of rape to have the baby of a man she doesn't know and who won't be around. And they won't stop there, these religious fanatics. There is language in the draft that opens the door to overturn the right to birth control, the right to interracial marriage, the right to not be sterilized against your will, among other things, using the same rationale they are using to overturn R v W. You can be sure they will go after birth control, interracial and same sex marriage, making certain sex acts and positions illegal as well as any gender identity that they don't approve of, integration, all things that were illegal until they were challenged in the courts.

Ladies, and you men as well, this imminent decision won't affect those of us that are past childbearing age but it will our daughters and granddaughters. My daughter would be dead from an ectopic pregnancy if these restrictions were already in place and many of your daughters and granddaughters will die if abortion is left up to the individual states while women who spontaneously miscarry will be criminalized because these states do not value the lives of women. Whether or not you personally are in favor of abortion, the fact is that it's a massive invasion of privacy and no one's business but the woman who finds herself unwillingly pregnant or willingly pregnant but unable to continue the pregnancy for whatever reason. If you support this invasion of privacy don't be surprised when the courts decide your privacy isn't worth protecting either. 

The majority of Americans are in favor of legal safe abortion but the Republican controlled states don't care what their constituents want and they have gerrymandered their districts, engaged in voter suppression, passed laws that enable them to put aside the results of free and fair elections if they don't like the outcome in order to remain in power, for the minority to rule the majority. And so the midterm elections are just as important if not more important than our last national election. If the Republicans regain the House and Senate they will get rid of the filibuster (they've done it before) to guarantee that they and only they will remain in power...the minority ruling the majority and that will be the end of our democracy.