How's everyone doing? Are you managing to keep your humor through all the natural and man made devastation right now? My gosh! 1. Thank you, dear friends, for checking in on my silence. I would be moaning up a crappy creek right now without the Husband and Molly the pinky-nosed (wild) Cat. Their sweetness and even keel help me keep my anxiety at bay. 2. Our heat wave is over, hurrah. After sweating through more than a week of 90s and triple-digit temperatures, I'm feeling chilled by the 65 F degree weather at the moment. I'm fine with that. It's easier to get warm, then to cool down.  3. We woke up this morning to thick haze and the strong smell of smoke in the air.  The burnt smell came back late yesterday afternoon, after a couple days of barely unhealthy air. It was a nice reprieve. 4. Our poor avocado tree has been shedding its fruit. The Husband says its stressed from the heat and smoke. Today I picked up a couple dozen or so of immature fruit. That's scary.  5

George Floyd ought to be on every American's mind, don't you agree? I don't know anything about the man other than he died by the hands of four police officers. Brutes, really. Thugs.  As the cops knelt on his body for more than eight minutes, Floyd showed no resistance and repeatedly told them that he couldn't breathe. The death scene was disgusting. It was horrifying, and it was sad. It didn't have to be! I am glad that since Floyd's death, on May 25, 2020, systematic racism and its perpetrators have been put on notice.  1. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights (June 2, 2020) filed a civil rights charge against the Minneapolis Police Department, along with investigating the department for systemic discriminatory practices and abuse of force. 2. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison upgraded the murder charge against Chauvin from third to second degree. In addition,  Attorney General Ellison charged the three other police officers (Thao, Kueng,

1. I got to the DMV office around 8:10 this morning. I was number 005. Yippieee! 2. In 10 minutes or less, my number was called. I didn't hear it because I was talking with the woman next to me who was a friend of Mama's. 3. I could barely see the first line on the eye chart with my right eye covered. "I'm getting cataract surgery on this eye." Thankfully, the young lady gave me a pass on the vision test. 4. No written test. I skimmed the handbook and took all the online practice tests earlier this week, just in case. It's still a win for me because I now know some new rules. 5. Did you know that in California you can pass on the right if there are multiple lanes, such as on the freeway? Now the Husband can't growl at people who pass on the right. "In my day. . . ." I also learned that you won't be criminally charged if you refuse to undergo a DUI test. Not that I foresee myself ever being in such a situation. 6. I couldn't g

Will she or won't she follow the instructions? Molly the Cat investigates the facts about the orange thing, inferring that it: idles insinuates insults inflicts idolizes invents (as in makes up) impairs immobilizes ignores incites imposes intimidates impersonates  Missy Girl's conclusion: Impeach and incarcerate.  Time for some ABC Wednesday (the letter I ) and Thursday 13 . Take a look! Thank you sweet hosts.

I wondered what I could do for Say Cheese! Tuesday , which is hosted Jeanna of The Ched Curtain. Why not this, said I. He's totally a cheesy character in my book.

Miao, miao. I know it's Tuesday. I know Missus Lady came back to our blog on Sunday, miaoo, and with a new name for out blog. Purrrrrrrr. I told her that I wouldn't write until I got to go outside, if just for a little while. Miao. Hero Man let me go out for a few moments this morning. Purrrrrrr. Since Friday, my humans have kept all the windows and doors shut. They say it is for my good and their good. Miao. The air is awful, they tell me. We live about 240 miles or so south of Paradise where that horrific fire is going on. All those poor people and animals who perished in that fire and the two Southern California fires. Mowwwrrrrr. Missus Lady took this photo yesterday from the car. The Diab lo Ran ge in the background is hardly visible. Missus Lady took this photo of the same spot in January 2017. That man who pretends to be our President doesn't know what he's talking about. Mowrrr! On Saturday, instead of expressing empathy and support, t

A ne'er-do-well left a message on our phone (land, if you must know) saying he is from the IRS and if we do not respond to his call within 10 minutes, a warrant for our arrest will be issued. The call was left about an hour ago. The voice left his message in a very brusque, rough tumbling threatening manner, so I can see how the gullible may believe he was from the IRS and sadly give the scammer money. After we erased the message, the Husband and I thought about reporting the call to the police or the IRS. The voice had left a number to call back, so it's possible an investigator might check. Who knows? Next time.

Yesterday I was listening to my humans talk about people who believe our world is flat. Astounding, miao! About 2% of Americans are flat-earth believers, according to a 2018 study conducted by YouGov. Miao. Last year the population in the U.S. was about 326 million. I'm saying that everyone counted is considered an American. No arguments, please. Purrrrrrrr. Two percent or about 325 million people in our country believe the world is flat. Miaaaao! I wonder if the flat-earth believers have another name for Earth. After all, the word earth means globe, sphere, orb. Round, for pity's sake. If we lived in a flat world, I don't think we would have balls or anything round. What kind of shape is the flat world? Is it square? Rectangle? A triangle? Diamond shaped? Miao, a shape with 12 uneven shapes? Where are the edges of the flat world? Yawwwwwwwwn. Nap time. See you next Monday. Miao.

This is what I find disgusting and maddening right now: The thuggish oaf in the White House seat telling the hothead of a judge who likes beer that I am sorry his drunken, hostile youth of a life had to be looked at so closely by us. I am not sorry. No. Not at all.

Warning, warning, Will Robinson. I'm musing about the state of our union today. Don't read any further than this paragraph, if that stuff gives you the hiccups.  For you, I have instead the above crazy photo that I painted with Photoshop art filters.  Can you find the face in the tree trunk? Onward. . . Craziness is in the air. A lot of it today, if we are to believe the old-fashioned press, not subjective media (left or right).  And, I do believe the honest reporting that is out there. What do you think: The guy who is supposed to be the President of the United States, a Putin puppet? Did it bug you that trump believes Putin didn't fiddle with the 2016 presidential election because Putin said he didn't? What about all the contrary findings in Robert Mueller's investigation? Is trump a Traitor? Also, do you still have faith that the Republican leaders in Congress are for us little guys? Do you ever think that trump's MAGA is really Make America

The past two weeks, I found a fellowship among like minded people standing on a corner in our small city in our rural California county. We took a couple hours out of our Saturday morning to protest against our federal government's decision to separate families who cross over the border without the proper papers. Politics aside, taking children, especially very young children,  from their parents was a heartless and unjust move on our government. Yes, the current White House administration said it wouldn't do it anymore, but, without the public light on them, can we trust them to reunite the families. Last week, about 26 of us stood on the corner. Yesterday, we were more than 80 women, men, and children standing strong. That's a big turnout for our neck of the woods. For nearly two hours, we heard car horns and saw people in cars waving at us. The people in those cars were like-minded, too. They acknowledged what we were doing and approved it. I hope that they

I've been grumpy today. I'm trying not to be. I'm also trying to reel in sadness and disgust about the thieves in the White House and the soulless in Congress. These so-called leaders of ours, their crew, and the greedy rich behind them are destroying our country, along with taunting our morals, actions, and beliefs in all that is good.  Tomorrow morning,  there will be protests in various cities throughout the United States to let the current White House administration know of our discontent with their cruel and unjust immigration policies. The Husband and I will join like-minded in our county on a street corner down town.  The IRS sent us a refund check of $51 and some cents a couple weeks ago. We didn't cash it, but a letter from the IRS was forthcoming, so an accompanying note stated. The letter came yesterday. IRS wrote that I made an error transferring an amount from a form. Yes, I was the culprit, although IRS does not know it. I do the taxes, while t

I'm feeling mighty groovy right now. Just like the song sang by Simon & Garfunkel, once upon a time. The Husband and I had a lot of fun this weekend. Ever since Eliza, our dependable 25-year old of a metal steed, had work done on her, she has been taking us places. So much so that I know the moon is in afternoon sky right now, something I haven't noticed in a very long while. On Saturday morning, we joined a group of like-minded people  downtown to express our concerns about the actions of our federal government. There was about two dozen of us, I think. Pretty good for our town. The current President's policy to separate children from their parents at the border was an incomprehensible and  immoral act.  To fix his action, he signed an Executive Order to stop his administration from following his policy for any family who is detained at the border. But, what about all the children who are already separated? Legally, children in immigration detention centers ca

I read "Poison Pray-Line" when I saw this sign in a commercial greenhouse last week. That got me thinking about the Christians who support the current White House administration.

Hi ya! Hey ya! Hope all's well with ya. All is well with us. I'm reaching into my archives for the next several days so I can play catch up around the house. "I'll do it tomorrow." has finally reared itself into today.  Such is retirement. :-) Have fun out there. Today's post (edited) was first published on May 13, 2010.  Yes,  this really did happen. ============ Ding dong. "Who can that be?" asked the husband, not getting up from his desk. I scrambled up from mine and down the stairs.  Not another salesperson from the carpet cleaning or bug zapping service, I hoped. I also didn't want to find someone clutching slick campaign material. Most likely no religious people; they rarely show up around dinner time. Aw, gee. What if it was a friend? The husband and I bought hot dogs at the Farmers Market for dinner, only enough for the Mama and us. Our front door was open, but the security door was locked. "Hello," I called f

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America Travel with Charley: In Search of America is in one of my to-read book piles. It may be the next book I reach for, being that I'm curious to learn what John Steinbeck was seeking as he wandered about the country with his canine pal Charley in 1960. Steinbeck was traveling in the era to which the present administration seems to want to return. You know the "Make America Great Again". Myself, I would rather not return to the age when civil rights for all was not honored by those mean-spirited in power and those cowardly who sided with the powerful.

The Husband is way up on the ladder of recuperation from that crazy virus that he came down with a couple days after Christmas. It seems this flu virus has been going on since October, but truly got worse in terms of spreading the past several weeks. In our county, health officials declared a "flu outbreak" during the last week in December, meaning a whole lot people in our area have it. The other day, the local news reported a second death in our county due to the flu. What's going on? Simply, people get sick and don't stay home and take care of themselves, because they have to do what they need to get done. They go to work, go to school, go to stores, go to wherever. They cough. they sneeze, they blow their noses. They handle stuff and touch surfaces that others will handle and touch. Shudder. The media has reported that the emergency department at our hospital has seen over two dozen people with the flu. No doubt they were miserable and probably thought they w

Damnzel furiously trumpets at the heartless and selfish Republicans in Congress. They've sold their souls to Evil, which is putting it kindly.

These books were new at the library last month. The one by the rich girl was prominently displayed, while Ms Arce's was shelved beneath it.   I could not resist pulling hers out and placing it next to the other with the tagline  "Rewrting the Rules for Success." Isn't it interesting whose name was printed huuuuugely on her book?  Meow. "That's not me mewing," says Molly the Cat.

It's chaos. I'm not talking about what's going on in our country. My chaos is personal and oh so mundane, but real: The chaos I create when I want to move one thing. Just one lousy thing. Doesn't matter what it is, a lamp, a table, a bookcase, or a box of research. To move one thing requires moving a lot of other stuff—before, during, and after moving that one thing. This morning I wanted to move a short, almost empty bookcase from its temporary spot against the wall to a permanent place alongside my desk. A matter of three feet, if that. Step One: Move the bookcase and various piles of paper files, books, and boxes from beneath my desk and the other side of it to whatever surface is available and not in the path of moving objects. Step Two: Remove the floor lamp from the side of the desk to wherever it's not in the way. Step Three: Nudge little by little the desk (a sturdy pine kitchen table, so somewhat nudgable) more towards the wall. Step Four: Re