Hello!

                 "Can somebody come get me. I'm waiting patiently here."

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

I was just outside removing chair cushions from the lawn furniture to get ready for tomorrow's storm. That's when I discover that we not only had smokey air last night, we had wood ash floating down. The wood ash has been lightly sprinkled over everything outside and left a line of burnt particles in front of the garage door.

(Photo from the Fort Collins Coloradan newspaper)

Why To Only Buy Bottled Drinks At 7-Eleven

I went to the Vet to refill some meds for Belle and on the way home I stopped at 7-Eleven. While paying for my stuff a women came up and stood beside me (thank god she was wearing a mask) and placed a 7-Eleven large cup of pop on the counter next to me. The clerk notice that she had taken two cups, one inside the other, and told her that she should not have taken two because larger cups were more expensive to order. The women pulled the outside cup off and then put all the fingers of one hand inside the cup as she placed it on counter. I don't know if the clerk put the cup back but I do know that watching that woman set that cup down was probably the way she and a lot of other people normally pulled cups apart when then accidentally grabbed more than one cup. I'm so glad I've never bought self-serve fountain drinks from 7-Eleven.

I See The Light

Yesterday morning when I got up I felt energized by the morning light. Something was different. Then I realized there was no wildfire smoke in the air. The light was "clearer."

This afternoon I went out for a walk and put my amber tinted sunglasses on. When I stepped outside I thought, "Whoa." I hadn't notice that when we had smokey air it had turned the sunlight the same yellowish color. Kind of interesting.

Doggie Dreams

 I've been dreaming about my dog Dusty (He died in January) for over a week now. At first he was just in the background of my dreams but the night before last he came close enough to me so that I could pick him up. I was carrying him through a field and the next instance we were in the work pit of an old garage that was filled with water. I struggled to get him out of the pit. After I set him up on the concrete I woke up. Last night Belle was also in my dream and both he and Belle stayed close together. Belle and I were the only ones in the dream who could see Dusty. That I found out when I ask other people in the dream if they could see him. Everyone I asked said no. Now I wonder why I am dreaming about Dusty every night.

Two months ago Belle had a seizure. The Vet gave us seizure medication but said she wasn't sure just why it had happened and that it could be from a brain tumor. About a month ago Belle had another seizure. The Vet increased Belle's medication and said she was now sure it was a brain tumor. She could not say how long Belle had before the tumor would end her life but it was probably no more than a year. We have accepted the fact that Belle will not be with us a year from now and are just enjoying each day we have with her.

So, about the dreams. Am I dreaming about Dusty because he wants me to know he is here? Am I dreaming about Dusty because he wants me know that he will be here to be with Belle when it is her time to leave us? Is he here to tell me that when Belle does leave she won't be alone? Is he here to tell me that her time is closer than I thought? I am OK with all these reasons but I am worried that the last question is the main reason why he is here.

Light Shadows -36

We had a bad hailstorm back in May while I was in Germany. They are replacing the roof shingles this week.

Game, Set And Match

Perfect answer to the absurdity of building Trump's vanity wall.

The Parable of The Trump Voter

a wolf met a spring lamb
drinking at a stream
and said to her
you are the lamb
that muddied this stream
all last year
so i could not get
a clean fresh drink
i am resolved that
this outrage
shall not be enacted again
this season
i am going to kill you
just a moment
said the lamb
i was not born last
year so it could not
have been i
the wolf then pulled
 a number of other
arguments as to why the lamb
should die
but in each case the lamb
pretty innocent that she was
easily proved herself guiltless
well well said the wolf
enough of arguments
you are right and i am wrong
but i am going to eat you anyhow
because i am hungry
stop exclamation point
cried a human voice
and a man came over
the slope of the ravine
vile lupine marauder
you shall not kill that
beautiful innocent lamb
for i shall save her
exit the wolf
left upper entrance
snarling
poor little lamb
continued our human hero
sweet tender little thing
it is well that i appeared
just when i did
it makes my blood boil
to think of the fright
to which you have been
subjected in another
moment i would have been
too late come home with me
and the lamb frolicked
about her new found friend
gamboling as to the sound
of a wordsworthian tabor
and leaping for joy
as if propelled by a stanza
from william blake
these vile and bloody wolves
went on our hero
in honest indignation
they must be cleared out
of the country
the meads must be made safe
for sheepocracy
and so jollying her along
with the usual human hokum
he led her to his home
and the son of a gun
did not even blush when they passed the mint bed
gently he cut her throat
all the while inveighing
against the inhuman wolf
and tenderly he cooked her
and lovingly he sauced her
and meltingly he ate her
thanking his gods
for their bountiful gifts to him
and after dinner
he sat with his pipe
before the fire meditating
on the brutality of wolves
and the injustice of
the universe
which allows them to harry
poor innocent lambs
and wondering if he
had not better write to the papers
for as he said
for god s sake can t something be done about it 
                                                                        archy

(From Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis (1927))

For your edification- The wolf is fear mongering and was never really there. The lamb represents Trump voters, and the human is, of course, Donald Trump.

Merry Christmas

Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

This Summer I Hear The Drumming

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
-Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809) American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary.


I have voted in every city, state, and federal primary and election I have been entitled to since 1972. My mother taught me to never vote a straight ticket but instead to vote for the person who I thought would do the best job.

This advise came from a woman who was a diehard Democrat. I was also a registered Democrat until about 20 years ago when I switched to unaffiliated. Even though I wasn't part of either major political party, I still adhered to my mother's advice. This year will be different. This year I will be voting a straight Democratic ticket since this election is too important to do anything else. Our craven Republican Congress must lose control of both the House and the Senate if we are going to continue as a democratic nation.

This Republican Congress has put their party before country, Donald Trump before national security, law and order before the Constitution, and the rich and corporations before the people. It advocates a Christian form of sharia law and a fascist form of government where the checks and balances written into the Constitution is overridden by presidential executive orders.

It has a Senate leader who quashes any legislation that threatens that power instead of letting the democratic process function the way it is supposed to function. The Republican Party has lost its way and should no longer be a major political party. I am going to do my part in making this happen by using my greatest weapon, my vote. You must do the same.

Vote-let Donald Trump, this Republican administration and this Republican Congress know we reject their cowardly, venal, corrupt, bullying ways.

Vote- no matter what, don't throw away your greatest weapon.