Not So Fast
It is a humbling experience (she says wryly) to be experiencing a sharply upward learning curve at a point in my life when I am supposed to be wise, by virtue of age and experience.
Yes, I have been through one prior full-blown hurricane, and many tropical storms, sandstorms, more than one earthquake, and even a flood. No two have been the same. I’ve lived a life full of challenges, and thrived. I’ve learned to think fast, to solve problems. I’m good at it.
So now, I am learning one of life’s less glamorous skills – patience. We have cleaned up. By the Grace of God, we have a person willing to help us clear the last spot needing clearing in our yard, a young man, experienced in tree work, the son of a friend. God truly works in wonderful ways.
We still have a big tree problem, this huge fallen tree in three backyards, hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles. I listen to my more experienced friends; they are all pragmatic. They say a variety of different words, all of which mean “Patience. This will take time.”
Finally, a disaster has been declared in our county. It took a week. FEMA, an organization which at one time was a shining light in our governmental policies, able to respond quickly and efficiently to disasters, is now hamstrung by cutbacks in personnel, funding and political machinations. Who and how they can help has changed. It hurts my heart that aid and lucrative contracts seem to be easily come by, while hands on help to those who need it most desperately, is very slow.
People talk about the blue tarps. In earlier years, almost immediately, trucks would go around giving out free blue tarps to homes with roof damage, to prevent more damage until the roofs could be repaired. We would fly into Pensacola and see entire areas with blue tarp roofs. I have seen a lot of roof damage inflicted by Hurricane Isaias; I have yet to see even one blue tarp. Such a simple necessity that can prevent so much more expense. Where are the tarps?
Neighbors are helping neighbors. Our neighbors who share our hanging tree are being wonderful. Everyone (except me) seems to understand that it will be fixed, and that it will take time. We are not a high priority. Intellectually, I can understand that. Emotionally . . . I am practicing patience. I am learning to practice to be patient. In some areas, I am a slow learner.
I have a small white sock on my buffet; it is a remnant of the load of wash I did for my granddaughter. They will be here for dinner tomorrow night and she can pick it up then. We are also working on a quilted holder for her Bedazzled work; I don’t know who is having more fun, her in eagerness for the container or me, in the design and making of it.
As soon as they got their electricity back, we lost our water, for hours, and when it came back, it was all brown. Finally, it ran clear, but it came also with a “Boil water” notice from our utility. I am reminded of Tunis, and Jordan back in the day, when boiling water was a normal part of life, and we had a big water purifyer called a Puro that we filled with boiling water and it filtered it all through large chalk filters.
Yesterday, after six days of sunshine and no wind, another smaller storm moved in and we waited for the other shoe to drop.
A lot of clean-up has been done. We are waiting for the disposal teams to come by and pick up debris. Meanwhile, the trees, grids, and water system still have invisible damage; changes in weather are likely to bring more unanticipated consequences.
Where to Start?
A President who won’t take accountability for his own policy follies? A President who fiddles (gilds the White House, demolishes a monument to former President Kennedy, starts a war without Congressional approval, gives contracts to his cronies without going through established processes, fires, and then re-hires critical bureaucrats, lies to the American public about election security, dabbles in trivialities) while Rome burns (gas hits record prices, allies are increasingly imperiled, national parks are starved for funds and broken apart, the education system tumbles and incivility reigns)?
A President who lies to the American people about just about everything AND who is trashing the American economy?
Trump and Mail In Voting
The man gave us all the information we needed to see this coming. He claimed he won the 2020 election, losing by over 8 million votes.
He was filmed telling a gathering of Evangelical Christians in the 2024 campaign that if they voted for him, they would never have to vote again. (Even then, it sounded ominous.)
Once elected, his first day in office, he fired the Election Oversight executives. Then, he fired everyone working for the federal government in his power who certified that he had lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
This man is corrupt. He has wrecked the guardrails that keep us from stepping over the lines of moral behavior. He has taken away penalties for law breaking. He has pardoned the very sort of people that he states he doesn’t want coming into our country.
But, most cynically of all, he works to deprive those of us who vote regularly, and vote by mail, of the very privilege he himself utilizes – voting by mail.
A selection of cartoon comments for your enjoyment:
Everyday Heroes Teach Our Children
I live in a state with one of the worst education systems in the country. I live in a county in that state that has one of the highest proportions of children under the poverty line in our schools. I work in one of the poorest schools in the county as a volunteer. With great pride, I say, “I am a laminator.”
With great laughter, my grandchildren call out, “See you later, laminator!”
I LOVE laminating. I get to operate this hot shot machine, and I get to see materials our teachers are using to teach our children. With my graduate degrees, I still have a lot to learn. Last year, laminating, I learned the properties of minerals. Yesterday, I was reminded of the critical components of fiction.
I love the school, which this past year earned an award for its test score improvements. I love the children, so fresh, so adorable, so full of energy. The librarian sings “Bye Bye Butterfly” waving her arms, and all the eager kindergarteners sing loudly and wave their arms, too. “See you soon, big baboon” makes them laugh their heads off. They are fully engaged. They are learning what a baboon looks like. With any luck at all, this year they will get a field trip to the nearby zoo.
Most of all, I love these brave heroes who work in our schools. Our state has policies which seem anti-public education. The state supports vouchers for private schools that show no accountability, and the state is proposing we lower or eliminate property taxes, further indenturing our local governments to the poohbahs in control of our state house of representatives, the state senate, and the state governor. The state has placed on the ballot a proposition to make the school superintendent of schools an elected office, not an office selected by the Board of Education, not going through any vetting process, but making the Superintendent of Education a popularity contest.
In a county known for banning more books in the schools than any other county in the United States, we NEED professionals at the highest levels.
By the grace of God, we already have them in the classrooms at the school where I volunteer. Our teachers are educated, trained, and mentor one another. They are busy at the beginning of the year laying out strict boundaries to keep the education process flowing productively. They are gathering our youngsters, corralling them, teaching them civil behavior, and best practices to achieve the standards which will propel them upwards through the system.
These teachers and administrators are planners, and their good planning gives daily examples to the students of how to succeed – in school, and in life. They live their truth. They demonstrate self-restraint, humility, humor, and toughness. They give their students the tools to succeed. They give them the basics; the ABC’s, the maths, and they polish the rough edges and develop their social skills.
With little thanks, they get up early to be at school to greet the students with a smile, even joy, so early in the morning.
These are my heroes. Their reward is touching and changing lives.
These heroes are in every school in our county, educating our citizens of tomorrow.
Pray for them, my friends, that their burden be light and that the Spirit refreshes them as they face their daily teaching responsibilities and challenges. They do the Lord’s work, welcoming the stranger, teaching the children to be kind to one another, helping them treat one another with respect and civility, how to take turns, how to make room for differences, and the fundamentals of democratic society. God bless the work of their hands!
Alaska 2026: Alaska Loves Her Veterans
Getting ahead of myself a little bit, on our last day in Anchorage, we were downtown looking for a place to park. We found a parking lot, but it had different areas with different rules and we found it very confusing. A young man was headed to his truck near us, so AdventureMan asked him what the procedure was for this section.
Taking in AdventureMan, he said “Are you a Veteran, Man?” and AdventureMan said “Yes.”
The young man gave a huge grin and said, “You don’t have to pay! I never pay! Alaska loves her veterans! They won’t come after you if you are a veteran. I park her all the time. I never pay!” and then, as soldiers do, they pulled out their resume’s and started comparing where they had served and it was old home week. Happens all the time.
As we were saying our farewells, he remembered something.
“Just try to keep it under an hour,” he said. “I can’t guarantee you can park longer than that, and I try to be respectful and not push my luck.”
“I try to be respectful . . .” I found that so refreshing.
We found evidence everywhere that Alaska truly does love and treasure and remember her veterans. By the side of the highway, as we neared Anchorage, we found this lovely Memorial.
At this memorial, I ran into a childhood nemesis. I don’t know the scientific name. As children, we called it Devil’s Club, and it grows in patches, and it scared us to death. Whe kids got mean, they might cut down a Devil’s Club and threaten one of the younger kids. It could really hurt, too, if you got hit with one.
Alaska 2026: Gorgeous Day to Explore Denali Area
A whole new day! It’s still only 41 F. but the sun is out, and the sun is shining on the snow on the mountains and it is another great day to be alive in Denali!
We had packed our own breakfast cereal with us, and the tiny store at our hotel has small bottles of milk so we get to have our own breakfast in our own cabin, with wonderful Alaskan roasted coffee for me, and tea for AdventureMan. Mine is an oatmeal mix, so I heated it in the microwave because it is still cold.
We are going to take it easy today, head back into the Park, and visit the Visitor’s Center, watch a couple of their movies and then head up the road to Healy, where there is a restaurant I want to try, 49th State Brewery. It looks like a lot of fun, and it gets great reviews.
Sometimes I drive AdventureMan a little crazy. We were about 15 seconds on the road, not even out of our hotel grounds when I gasped and said “I don’t have my camera!” and AdventureMan concealed his disgust but couldn’t restrain a small choking sound. Gentleman that he is, he turned around and we went back, I ran in and got my camera and we got started again.
As we headed north to the Park entrance, we looked in the rear view mirrors and the sun was shining on the mountains, and we could see the mountain peaks! The peaks had been hidden by clouds the last two days, but today, we have blue skies and dramatic high clouds and you can see the mountains! They are glistening in the sun!
There is a turn off, shortly after we get on highway 3, and we take it, hoping to find a viewpoint, and discover a sweet small park with the beginning of several hiking trails, one of which, the Oxbow Trail, we had wanted to hike.
View across Nenana River of Denali Park Village, which handles tour groups.
It was a beautiful hike, with several outlooks, different views, glorious in today’s sunlight. And ground squirrels, unafraid of us. And rabbits – one of which just froze and allowed me to take photos. AdventureMan said “he thinks if he is so still he is invisible to you.” So after I had taken the photos, I looked away, and when I looked back, he was gone.
The drive to Denali Park entrance was filled with one beautiful vista after another. We were there by 9 and had no trouble finding a parking place, but already people were arriving and the tour buses were streaming in. You have to admire the guides and bus drivers who have to keep it fresh every single day.
We watched an inspiring movie about the sled dogs, and their relationships with their rangers, and how the dogs are a part of the team trying to keep to traditional ways in the park to avoid over modernization and damage to the eco system. Winter, for them, is one of the best times of the year, as they take the dog teams deep into the park to set up remote locations. It’s a good time to be working with the senior dogs, and at the same time to be initiating the younger dogs into the commands, the customs, and the routes they follow. Some of the conditions, especially ice, are very difficult. Life is simple, and hard. Work, food, care, shelter, and time for making the dogs feel appreciated. It was very moving to see how loved these dogs are, and how much they like to pull the sleds.
In another area, we could see and even touch the most basic tools by which early people survived. I’ve had a question about how early people were able to make needles; today I saw how bone was used, and some may have already had holes, but that bone can also be used to pierce bone. I saw how sinew is used as a twine, twisted into rope, and thin sinew can be used as a kind of thread. Moose shins were valuable for weaving, moose skins for clothing and bags. Small rabbit skins for lining wraps for babies.
To me, this is fascinating, how early people survived by inventing solutions to problems with their existing resources. Drying, filleting and smoking salmon to make it last, harvesting and drying berries to get them through the long winters – we take so much for granted, we live among such luxuries. I look at safety pins and think of all the processes that had to be invented before a safety pin could exist. But before safety pins would be buttons, made from bone, with two little holes to allow them to be sewn on with that little sharp bone with the hole in it.
We took a short drive up Denali highway; traffic is controlled, only authorized buses are allowed inside the park past the ranger station, unless you have a camping permit, then you can drive but you are encourage to use the shuttle buses, not drive. They are very serious about preserving the pristine nature of the park.
Yesterday, it was the thrill of the game viewing. Today, it is the wonder of the sun on snowy mountains, a spectacular display.
We need to find gas, and we want to have lunch, so we continue north up Alaska 3 to Healy, where we pass all the way through without seeing the restaurant we are looking for, which is right on Highway 3. We turn around at the end of town, and head back. While AdventureMan fills the tank, Google and I work out where the restaurant is and how to get there.
Even with the directions, we might have missed it. We had to make a left across traffic, and then another left into an area with a hardware store and other businesses, very rural, but then, suddenly, there it was. Their sign shows beer, but the name of the restaurant is very small, small enough to miss even if you are looking for it.
It is a really FUN place, the 49th State Brewery. You enter through a tall log arch into a big outdoor courtyard, with seating in groups around fire pits, or wood fires, and it smells wonderful. Once inside, the decor is a mix of modern and rustic, very hip and current. The menu has so many temptations, but we want halibut and chips, one of the restaurants most famous dishes. They also have Alaskan Red King Crab legs, l 1/4 lbs for $184. Yikes. I have always loved King Crab. $184/lb is a little rich for my blood.
We love talking with all the young people we meet who have come up to Denali to work, some recruited from foreign countries by agencies. We’ve met people from Jamaica, Uzbekistan, Macedonia, Thailand, Bulgaria, and young people recruited by friends in the USA.
Mary, our server today, was told about this opportunity down in Tampa, FL. She called, was interviewed by phone, and told to report for duty in three days! We laughed! I asked her if she had packed the right clothes, and she said no, that she had to order a jacket from Amazon because she had left her own puffy jacket at home, thinking she wouldn’t need it. We love hearing their stories. We love that young people are still up for adventure.
Back in our cabin, we are packing up for the long drive tomorrow from Denali to Seward. We have two campers in the spots next to our cabin, and we understand our privacy has been a great luxury. We are at the very start of the season, and the crowds of people eager to experience Alaska are growing daily.
If we had known how much we would love Denali, we would have given ourselves another couple of days to explore more here, and maybe to make the drive to Fairbanks and North Pole, Alaska (not really the North Pole, but a Christmas driven town.)
Politicized Weaponized Justice and Unintended Consequences
I laughed when I read about the end of the Trump IRS case. He was going to lose, so he pulled an appearant agreement with the Department of Justice, where attorneys are fleeing the use of the Department to go after Trump’s enemies. Trump doesn’t care that the evidence does not support a winning case. He wants his “enemies” charged, like he was. He was found guilty, by a jury of his peers.
A very smart attorney, someone say like James Comey, will be able to find a way to use this case, and the funds set aside, to charge the current Department of Injustice with discrimination, that these funds should be widely available to those who believe the Justice Department has gone after them for purposes of vengeance, rather that breaking the law. This gang of dunces have opened a loop of opportunity, just one more tragic comedy in a regime of careless, callous, destructive actions.
This is from the news service 1440:
| Anti-Weaponization Fund’ |
| The Justice Department yesterday announced a $1.776B taxpayer-funded program to compensate individuals who claim the DOJ politically targeted them. The figure appears to be a nod to America’s founding year. Payments would come from the Treasury’s Judgment Fund, an uncapped account used to settle federal cases. The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is part of a settlement resolving President Donald Trump’s $10B lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, along with civil claims tied to the Russia probe and the search of his Mar-a-Lago residence. Trump and his family will receive a formal apology but no monetary damages. The tax case stems from disclosures by a former IRS contractor who was sentenced to prison for leaking high-profile figures’ tax data between 2018 and 2020.A five-member commission, appointed by the attorney general and removable by Trump, will oversee claims through December 2028. The fund is modeled after an Obama-era program that compensated Native American farmers for discrimination in federal lending programs (see DOJ explanation). |
He who accuses, accuses himself.
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Early Voting in Florida
