more yardwork and the Republican House's first week

Saturday was a fine day, clear blue sky, low humidity, no wind to speak of. I dug up the spirea which had finally given up the struggle. It was a beautiful shrub that would be covered in its little white flower clusters in the spring but the first arctic blast in the winter of '20/'21 that caused so much havoc in Texas, the power grid failing and houses and people freezing, damaged it severely. It would put out new growth which would die back in the heat of summers until this winter with another week of temps in the teens and twenties, it was done.

So now I'm sort of rearranging that flower bed. Saturday I started weeding it and turning the soil, getting my hands in it, so a good day, I got to dig. I like to dig and the soil was just right for it, not wet and clumpy, not hard and resistant. I'm taking out the rest of the black and blue salvia to expand the area for zinnias and also for a small spring garden, a few tomatoes, green beans, a couple of squash maybe. I want to grow potatoes again but not there.

My squirrel deterrent seems to be working. Besides the one I saw on the bird feeder Monday, I haven't seen any since I moved the elephant plant stand farther away. After the pole fell, when I got it back up I went ahead and slipped a section of galvanized downspout over it as an added deterrent as one of my readers has commented that it works for them, squirrels can't climb it. Sunday morning when I got up and looked out there was a squirrel foraging in the area beneath it and looked to be getting plenty to eat and made no effort to climb up to the feeder.

Sunday I cleared out all the dead orange cosmos and cut back the rock roses (not a true rose but like the confederate rose, part of the hibiscus family). Still some clearing to do...cutting back the wild Mexican petunias, cutting the dead fronds off the holly ferns, 

clearing the shell ginger on the east side of the house. Almost all the azaleas are showing tiny green buds of new growth and the roses have just exploded with new growth. I don't usually cut them back until February but that will have to be done this week.

You can stop here if you're sick of American politics, what follows is a summary of the first week of operations in the new Republican majority House.

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McCarthy, in his acceptance speech as Speaker a week ago, claimed that this would be a transparent House and then they passed the House Rules in which was included a secret 3 page document that not even all the Republican representatives had seen that contains McCarthy's promises to the insurrectionist cabal and which contains, among other things, the pledge to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless cuts to social programs are made. They think they're covering their asses by excluding the military, interest payments, and Social Security as line items, as if that's even possible, as if people still getting their checks will counterbalance shutting down every other part of the federal government sending the country into default which doesn't just affect us but the entire world economy. And make no mistake, these are the debts Trump incurred that they will be refusing to pay by failing to raise the debt ceiling, something they have no problem doing as long as Republicans have the majority in Congress and the presidency. This should backfire spectacularly on them.

The other thing McCarthy said in his speech was that because of the long fight to elect a Speaker, they have learned how to govern. So after two years of screaming about inflation, the price of gas, the economy, the fake border crisis, crime, and Hunter Biden's laptop this is what the House Republicans have done during their first week of the new session:

   -Removed the metal detector from the entrance to the House.
   -Allowed smoking in Representatives offices.
   -Passed a bill to repeal the new funding for the IRS to hire and replace agents included in the Inflation Reduction Act and is currently set to vote on abolishing the IRS altogether in a further attempt to protect millionaire and billionaire tax cheats.
   -Decimated the Office of Congressional Ethics to hamstring it from conducting business in order to protect their members from investigation of ethics violations.
   -Established the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to conduct investigations into the 'government's collusion with private companies to infringe the rights' of the people to free speech ie their butthurt and false accusations that social media platforms wrongly silenced the free speech of the far right and to investigate the DOJ and the FBI for their legitimate investigations into Trump's and his sycophants' criminal activity.
   -Passed the 'born alive' bill that forces doctors to give life sustaining care to any baby that is still 'alive' after an attempted abortion or face new penalties. As if that happens, as if doctors aren't already required to do so if it does happen.
   -Passed a resolution condemning attacks on anti-abortion facilities (apparently attacks on clinics and doctors who perform abortions are OK).
   -Removed Democrats from committees.
   -Is considering a vote to expunge Trump's impeachments.

So much for Republicans 'learning how to govern'. Not a single bill has been put forward to address any of the things they have been attacking Biden and democrats for for the past two years because they don't actually care about any of those things besides using them as a weapon to gain power. Power is what they care about, the ability to force the rest of the country to kneel.

 

long day, little rainbows, winter/spring, and food

I was gone basically all day Thursday, leaving in the morning to get to SHARE by 9 AM, returned home by 1:15 with just enough time to scarf down a sandwich and head to my appointment for my annual physical at 3 PM. I really like my primary care doc which is why when the Memorial Hermann clinic closed offices here and moved to Sugar Land, I followed her there. In the past it has taken 40 – 45 minutes to get to the office because of highway construction and traffic and then maybe another 10 minutes or so to troll around the parking lot until I find a parking spot, usually the furthest away possible, walk to the building to arrive 30 minutes ahead of the appointment which they request. So I left at 1:30 for my 3 o'clock appointment. All the road construction has been completed and traffic was light and I made it there in half an hour and as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, a car pulled out of the first row right in front of the entrance and I slid right in. Great, now I'm an hour early for my appointment. So I sat in the car and read for half an hour before going in. Had already had my blood work done and everything was good, cholesterol a little high but not so much that she recommended medication, which I wouldn't take anyway. Too many problems associated with statins to suit me. I do have to schedule a boob squishing and a bone density test to keep an eye on the osteoporosis which I also refuse to take the medication for. Got home about 4:15 and then left again a little before 5 for yoga class and back home by 6:30.

The wind blew in another cold front Thursday giving us low humidity and a clear blue sky yesterday and today. This is the time of year when the rising sun isn't hidden by the leaves on the tree out my window and shines through the crystal faceted ball hanging there and throws prisms on the ceiling and walls.

Dipped down to 35˚ last night and then gets warm again. The next two weeks will be highs in the 60s and 70s. If it weren't for the arctic freeze before christmas we really wouldn't be having much of a winter. I finally got out there yesterday and cut the banana trees to the ground, the ones here at the house. Cut them up into manageable sized sections, used the garden cart to tote the mess to the edge of the wild space and tossed it all in as far as I could throw it, at least six cart loads and I'm glad to have that chore done.

Coming back across the yard I happened to look down and six 10 petal anemone flowers had opened up. These little wildflowers, about an inch in diameter, are always the first to bloom besides dandelions but they still surprised me. It seems early even for them.

Earlier yesterday I heard a loud thump and assumed a bird hit the glass in the door but I didn't get up to investigate. When I did finally look up I couldn't see the bird feeder and turns out the pole on which it sits had keeled over and all the bird seed had spilled out. This pole doesn't have a prong at the bottom for stability, just a pointed end you pound into the ground. Granted it was a little wobbly so I'm not really surprised it fell over. I have seen no squirrels so I don't know what caused it to keel over. Maybe the white wings doves that kept landing on the top. Anyway, I pounded the bottom section into the ground deeper and it seems pretty stable now. It was mobbed all day with cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, goldfinches, doves, et al and they did not let the spilled seed on the ground go to waste either.

Once again, my turn to fix dinner last night. I had a sort of meat pie/pastie planned. They're always a little different. This one had shredded leftover roast, onion, a leftover leek, celery, garlic, and potato.

Another trip in the Way Back machine, this one from 2010 about insects.  It's a little different as it turns out most my January posts around this time of the month are about how cold it is and how I'm over winter or what full size drawings I'm trying to get done for whatever carved glass job or molds I was filling.

 

regeneration and weird dreams and weird weather

I got a text from Abby Monday that she was ready to start her yoga class again after taking the month of December off and though I'd been fairly good at doing my home practice during that time and pretty consistent in January, had even already done my routine that morning, I had more than one muscle speak up Monday night during class. I'm glad to be back to the Monday and Wednesday routine.

Weird dreams last night that I sort of remember. In one I was sleeping and woke up to see my husband dressed in a button down shirt tucked into his pants (you have to know my husband to know how unusual that is) as he was leaving the house early. Asked him where was he going and he said he wanted a chance to win one of the seats on the Endeavor (a shuttle ride into space) and he was going to give his presentation (why he should get a spot). I was so angry. And you didn't tell me? I'd like a chance to do that too. You were just going to sneak off? Did you not want to share the experience with me? Weird, right? Everything about that was weird. The other dream is much foggier but I was home asleep when I heard a commotion. The 'authorities' were coming to get me (I have no idea why) and we were trying to keep them out and then I and some guy managed to escape out of the house and into van and drive away but they managed to follow us and we abandoned the van. They caught up with the guy but I ran off through some dense growth and around some houses and then I climbed over a sheet metal enclosure and fell in where there were two children playing and the caregiver came out to see who I was and that's all I remember. What was that all about. The unconscious mind can be truly bizarre.

Lots of bird activity at the feeder...cardinals, chickadees, titmice, inca and white wing doves, house finches, sparrows, bluejays, warblers, even a goldfinch or two. I came back from my sister's house Monday to see a damn squirrel on the bird feeder. Chased it off. Didn't see how it got up there but I moved the ceramic elephant plant stand much farther away in case it had jumped from it. So far haven't seen another one manage to get on but I did watch one squirrel try several times yesterday without success. It seemed a little flummoxed by the hood like what the hell is this.

Some regeneration going on out there. So far the crinums, spider lilies, ground orchids, roses, and rock roses.

My potted red bud tree is totally confused by the warm weather, currently 75˚ and still climbing. Three weeks ago we were having lows in the teens.

as is the maple tree which lost its leaves only a week or so ago and started blooming almost the very next day.

Too soon ladies, too soon! But yeah, no such thing as global warming even though the last 7 or 8 years have been the hottest on record. Even the birds seem confused about if they should be stocking up seed for the winter or flirting for mates.

I mentioned previously the yew trees were going through a major leaf drop as a result of sustained temps in the teens and twenties the week before Christmas. Here's the deck today with some oak leaves mixed in. I had already cleared off one carpet of leaves.

I need to cut the frozen and falling over banana trees down to the ground but It is so windy out there today, sustained 8 mph with gusts to 13 mph so says the weather app and the wind chimes are ringing steadily. It's the kind of wind that runs you indoors after awhile. Maybe Friday as tomorrow is my volunteer day.

 

girls, cracked pipe, and squirrel bafflement

So what was I planning to write when I sat down last and got hijacked by the hijinks? Just some miscellanea of the past week. I went over to my daughter's house Wednesday and Saturday for more visits with great grandgirl Paisleigh. 

Audra arrived on Friday and the little family is headed back to Arkansas today or maybe tomorrow but Mikey and Audra both have to be back at work on Tuesday. Jade also had come in on Thursday so her dad could add some weather stripping on the hardtop of her jeep she just bought and we spent time together Friday and Saturday until it was time for her to head back.

Friday afternoon I went over to the shop and while I had already looked inside to see if there were any exploded water pipes like last winter (none shattered) I had not yet turned on the water to see if there were any leaks through cracks I couldn't see. So that's what I did, turned on the outdoor shut off valve and then walked through the shop looking for water spraying out. All looked good but as I walked back towards the back door I could hear water gushing. Great. Went out to turn off the water again and that's where the water was coming from. Well, damn, it wasn't like I hadn't insulated and taped up that pipe coming out of the ground and into the shop because I had. It cracked anyway. And it's not like it cracked in a convenient place that would make it easy for me to cut out and replace that section of PVC, no no, it cracked in just about the worst place possible and it wasn't even the pipe but the collar that connects two sections of pipe about 1/2” above the shut off valve that Rocky had repaired last winter.

My plan is to get some FlexSeal paste and goop it up real good and cross my fingers that works, at least long enough for me to have the hose while I torch the burn pile. If that fails then I'll have to call Rocky.

I collected all the piles of debris from around the yard and tossed all that on the burn pile on Friday. Still have yet to cut down the banana trees so I guess I'll do that this next week. All the roses, the azaleas, and the camellia have lost all or nearly all their foliage, even the monster rose bush is nothing but branches and stems. The holly ferns (of which I have many) and the Boston ferns are all brown. They'll come back but it will take two years for them to fill out again and that's if we don't get another winter in the teens next year. The two yew trees are going through a major leaf drop which happened last night. I had just cleared the deck yesterday of oak leaves and today it is covered again with yew leaves as is the ground all around them. The big ponytail palm though is surprisingly intact. Some of the bottom leaves? fronds? have turned brown but all the necks that I can reach are firm.

Today I worked on my latest attempt to keep the squirrels off the bird feeder. The little bastards spill more than they eat and the ground underneath has a thick layer of millet and sunflower seed shells and uneaten sunflower seeds. The shepherd's crook it had been hanging on didn't allow me to attach the 'squirrel proof' hood on the pole underneath the bird feeder and we know that hanging it over the bird feeder from the wire did not prevent at least one squirrel from getting to it. So I bought a new straight pole that came in sections with a piece with arms that slid over the top and clamps down to hold it in place. Then I cut a piece of 1” x 6” and drilled a hole in the middle and pounded that onto the top of the pole and resting on the arms, cut small pieces of lathe and glued them onto the piece of 1” x 6” that hold the bird feeder in place so that it is stable but I can easily lift it off to fill it when needed.

Then I assembled the whole thing, clamping the squirrel hood onto the pole under the bird feeder.

So far so good.

unfortunately this is our circus and our monkeys

Well, that particular clown show is finally over with Republicans acting like they achieved a great victory after four days of hurling insults and cursing at each other and nearly came to blows at the end with one republican restraining another who was lunging at Gaetz. McCarthy finally prevailed after 15 votes and only because he convinced enough republicans to vote present lowering the bar to a number he could attain and now has the title Speaker of the House. He has the title, empty though it is, but not the power which he traded away to the 20 far right insurrectionists (of which he is one himself, make no mistake) for puppet strings. If he fails to dance to their tune, all it takes is for one representative to call for his ouster, another of his concessions.

Fifteen votes to finally elect a Speaker and not even a full majority of 218, he won with 216 votes, and he's up there claiming that 'the people' have spoken and Republicans have a mandate to force their unpopular policies on America. McCarthy only beat Jeffries by four votes, their majority comes with only 10 representatives. I could be wrong but I don't think that slim of a majority constitutes a 'mandate'.

Apparently now that we have a functioning House, sort of, if you can call the GOP functioning, one of the first things they will do is vote to undo the new funding for the IRS which is woefully understaffed right now. If you have ever tried to speak with an IRS agent on the phone or meet with one in person you know how impossible that is and how badly the funding and new agents are needed. A phone call gets you put on hold for hours and then finally dropped, a visit to an office is worse.

We fell behind on our taxes a decade or so ago and it took a long time to get it straightened out. To meet with an agent, Marc would have to get to the office as close to opening time as possible and sign in; agents called you on a first come first serve basis and there was no guarantee you would get in that day just because you showed up. I forget how many days it took. Fortunately we were self employed and he could take those days off without penalty.

The good thing is that the Senate won't go along with it and neither will Biden, which will be the end result of whatever legislation they manage to pass in the House. Unfortunately, there's no way to stop them from their bogus and retaliatory investigations which will turn up nothing and will be another clown show so the next two years will be full of faux outrages, baseless accusations, and zero proof. Probably the only real power they have besides obstruction is their stated refusal to raise the debt ceiling when it comes around again thereby causing the government to fall into default, which will impact not only the US but world economies as well, unless they get heavy reductions in spending and the reductions they want are Social Security and Medicare. This will be a game of chicken since Biden has said he will not cut SS or Medicare.

If they want to cut spending how about stop subsidizing the oil industry or any subsidized industry making record profits. We could stop bailing out companies failing through their own malpractice like the billions we gave SW Airlines who used over $5B of the money to buy back their stock and give their CEO a big raise or stop increasing the defense budget. Seriously, we spend more on the military than the 10 next highest military budgets combined. In 2021 our defense budget accounted for 39% of the world's military spending and Biden increased the budget for 2023.

Well, I didn't mean to engage in another political essay when I started writing but here it is anyway.

No additional old post today. I think maybe I'll just do it once a week since it takes a lot of time to select one and you'll probably quickly tire of a second post every time.

democrats unite while republicans squabble

Overcast and very windy Monday, the kind of wind that moans with a little rain now and then. Definitely not the kind of day that calls you outside. Yesterday was lovely though, sunny and warm and most importantly not humid and our nights getting cooler. Today is looking to be as nice as yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday, did we all enjoy the chaos?

Republicans with their majority of 10 were to take control of the House and elect a Speaker. And they failed, they failed three times, and until they elect a Speaker they cannot begin the business of the House. Minority Leader democrat Jeffries consistently got more votes than any of the republican nominees and that's because the democrats stood firm and united, 212 to McCarthy's 203. The republicans, on the other hand, are in total disarray.

There are nineteen or so far right MAGAt wackos, all insurrectionists that helped plan the attempted J6 coup, determined to take the party even further right in their attempt to disrupt and destroy the government. They want to gum up the works until the government fails and they can step in and turn our democracy into authoritarian rule with them being the authorities. They blame McCarthy, seen as too moderate by the right wing, for their poor showing in the midterms. They have demanded concessions from him pre-vote like promises of positions on committees, conducting their bogus investigations, gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics, and most telling, allowing only five votes to remove him from the speakership which will make him beholden to them, give them more power over what happens in the House than the other House members. Still they refused to vote for McCarthy, rallying behind Jim Jorden, a man who has never authored a single bill, overlooked the molestation of boys in his care, and was a leading figure in the 2021 insurrection. They are just fine with the chaos they are engaging in. Generally though, McCarthy, who by the way was so certain he would win that he had already started moving into the Speaker's office before even a single vote, is not well liked, seen as untrustworthy, but has the support of the republicans tired of the theatrics and disruption of the MAGAts.

Whoever becomes Speaker needs 218 votes to win. I hope Democrats are wooing the most moderate of the Republicans who are tired of the shitshow the GOP has become and would like to get back to the business of governing. Jeffries only needs 6 more votes to win and forming a coalition governing body would show Americans that Republicans are capable of having the country's best interests at heart and are capable of compromising now that Trump is losing his grip on the party. There are 12 Republican representatives that narrowly won in states Biden won and Jeffries can also promise plum committee assignments. A nice dream, right? I think it's more likely that shots will be fired on the floor of the House now that the metal detector has been removed, the very first thing they did yesterday. The far right gun nut contingent does not believe in compromise and the moderates are the very people they want to get rid of.

Meanwhile the BFFs Boebert and Greene have turned on each other in grand mean girl style and the pariah liar extraordinaire George Santos sat in the back of the room while everyone else shunned him. McCarthy won't sanction him because he needs Santos' vote.

They adjourned last night at 5:30, and needed democrat votes to do so, giving McCarthy time to canvass for more votes to reconvene today at noon. Rumor had it that McCarthy would ask for a vote to adjourn til tomorrow giving him more time. If the motion was put forth, it didn't pass and McCarthy has lost a fourth vote today so far.

Another trip in the Way Back machine, this one from 2011.  I picked it because it was published on the 4^th and has nothing to do with politics. Well, it is about a fire but not a political one.

endings and beginnings

More cleaning up in the yard new year's eve, more piles of debris, smaller ones. The easter lilies had started to come up before the freeze and all the biggest ones froze off but little ones survived and then the small ones, some froze while the ones right next to it didn't for no rhyme or reason that I could figure.

I was sitting at my computer later and I could hear Cat playing in the corner behind me when all of a sudden she started making the most horrible growly yowly sounds. I rushed over to her and she was writhing on the floor. Oh my god! What's wrong! I looked down at her front paw where an anole with a much shortened tail was clamped onto her toe. I reached down and pulled it off and Cat was immediately fine, and I let the thing go outside. Cat, the lion stalking its prey, completely undone by an anole.

With the first loud bang of fireworks Saturday night, Minnie took off headed for the closet in the bedroom. She was already trembly and a little bug eyed from the idiots shooting off their guns earlier (though they may have been hunters) and a few firecrackers. Lightning and thunder doesn't send her to the closet but fireworks do. I didn't see her again until she jumped in bed with me the next morning.

New Year's day I was going through some old posts from 2012 mostly looking for a specific post to backup a comment I was writing where I had documented a cardinal's nest from hatchling to fledgeling (9 days) and I realized I was a much more interesting and better writer back then. 2014 was the year I dedicated to the selfie, taking a selfie every Friday to acclimate myself to my aging wrinkling face. This year with every post I will attach a link to a previous post made on or around the same date. You know just to bore you twice. And so I jumped in the Way Back machine and picked this one from January 1, 2012.  I picked this one because it has a little story of my growing up but also because the second half I could have written today about the state of our polarized nation though I almost picked this one from January 1, 2011 just for the pictures of the sunset.  Oh wait, you get a twofer to begin. Read them or not.

A while later I texted my daughter to see when would be a good time to come visit my grandson Mikey and great grandbaby Paisleigh who are here for a visit with Audra coming in on Wednesday when she texted back that they were on the way to my house now. A few minutes later grandgirl Robin, Mikey and Paisleigh drove up. Paisleigh is a little over a year now and this is the first time I've seen her since they moved to Arkansas last summer. She didn't remember me of course but it didn't take long for her to warm up.

After their visit I thought I would go over and turn the water on at the shop and check for cracked pipes but then decided I didn't want to do that so I thought I would cut back the shell ginger on the east side of the house but decided I didn't want to do that either so I sat on the deck and read the rest of the day. Last night the two new buds opened and this morning I see that two more of the buds have flowers descending. If they open, that will make 7 flowers that opened after I cut the branches.