Day 243: Unsuccessful

Posted on 11/11/2020 by chick

Yesterday I blocked, unfollowed, and muted half of my Twitter. I just wanted to pretend for a few days that 45 didn’t exist. But, just like everything else we’ve ever done to get rid of him, it didn’t work. I understand why everyone is talking about him, but there are other things going on in the world, and I’d like to focus on them for a bit. Is that really so much to ask?

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Day 242: Ready to Fly

Posted on 11/10/2020 by chick
Aster seeds are ready to fly.
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Day 241: Lessons From Nature

Posted on 11/09/2020 by chick
I am not nearly as tall as this photo might suggest.
Lesson: Never judge anything by its shadow.
I sometimes think that the fall foliage would be prettier if the maples and oaks would turn colors at the same time, but the oaks insist on having their own show.
Lesson: Everything has to shine at its own time.
Sunset is the most beautiful time of time of day.
Lesson: The end can be even more beautiful than the beginning.
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Day 240: All Shook Up

Posted on 11/08/2020 by chick

Today I experienced my first earthquake. No joke. The house shook and rattled. Marshall also felt and heard it, so I knew it wasn’t my imagination. I wondered afterward if it had been an earthquake. My hubby thought it was more likely to be blasting, even though he agreed that Sunday seemed like an odd day for it. But, checking online now, I see that Massachusetts had a 3.6 magnitude earthquake around 9:00 a.m. and that many people in CT and RI report having felt it, too. Wow. 2020 sure does love to shake things up!

P.S. Here is the USGS data for the quake.

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Day 239: You’re Welcome

Posted on 11/07/2020 by chick

If anybody out there in the Northeast is enjoying the warm weather we’ve been having, you’re welcome. Yes, it was I who brought it about when I put the flannel sheets on the bed a few days ago. Enjoy it while it lasts. I will be putting the regular sheets on the bed tonight, and no doubt the weather will turn cold again soon afterward.

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Day 238: Bad Idea

Posted on 11/06/2020 by chick

It was a bad idea to fall seven days behind in blogging. I knew that before it happened, but I let it happen anyway, and today I suffered for it. It took me half the evening to figure out what I had intended to say, get it all written, and post it. I’m done now, and I guess all’s well that ends well, but I definitely should not allow myself to fall so far behind again!

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Day 236: No More EC

Posted on 11/04/2020 by chick

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the Electoral College? I’ve felt that way for a long time, but there’s nothing like a contentious election to remind me of how much and why. I recently saw some social media posts in which Rhode Island Republicans were talking about how worried they were that Democrats would get rid of the EC. And yeah, I realize that the EC sometimes hands Rhode Island Republicans the results that they want, but I still don’t think that they ought to support it.

The way I see it, because RI Republicans never reach the winning threshold, the EC renders all of their votes meaningless. The same is true for all Democratic votes above the threshold needed to win. So, every election there will be hundreds of thousands of votes cast in Rhode Island that make absolutely no difference in who wins the presidency, but only because the votes are cast here. If we could instead cast them in another state, they might be decisive.

How unfair that is! Votes cast in other states matter more than ours. And how unfair it is when the EC hands the presidency to the candidate with fewer votes!

The EC also does Rhode Islanders wrong in another way. Because we have only 4 electoral votes, we’re not a make-it-or-break-it state, and we’re consequently ignored most of the time. In fact, because we’re considered to be a guaranteed win for the Democrats, candidates of both parties ignore us. The Democrats take us for granted, and the Republicans can’t be bothered to fight for us. That is not right.

So I hate the EC all the time and especially at election time. But I’ve never hated it more than I do now. We are once again in the middle of an election where it’s clear who won the popular vote, but less certain who won the Electoral College. This country can’t handle any uncertainties right now. If things go badly over the next few days, the Electoral College will be partly to blame, and it’s past time we got rid of it. No more EC!

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Day 235: Wishful Thinking

Posted on 11/03/2020 by chick

Elections are scary, even when you think your party is going to win. Last night, my husband and I were both wishing for someone to tell us that everything would be OK. So I made up a happy bedtime story. I said that Biden would win so decisively that there would be hardly any protest or violence when he was announced the victor. I said that we would gain seats in the House and take control of the Senate. I said that Lindsey Graham was going to lose and that Mitch McConnell, no longer in charge of the Senate, would die soon after, because the powers of Evil would stop sustaining him.

It was a beautiful fairy tale, but it did not come true. Biden may yet win the presidency, but the votes are still being counted, and we won’t know the results for a while. As for the rest, it was nothing but wishful thinking. 🙁

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Day 233: Halloween Accomplished

Posted on 11/01/2020 by chick

We went into Halloween without much of a plan, but we had everything we needed: Halloween gear, plenty of treats, our imaginations, and a willingness to be silly. My husband set up some spooky music and lighting in the great room. We also had this excellent “Bed Bug Poison” Halloween light that my brother and his wife had sent us as a joke a few years back. It set the mood perfectly.

Then we pretended that the door to that room was was the door of a spooky house. Every time the kids knocked on it, it was a different house with different things going on inside. Sometimes we answered the door as friendly folks, happily handing out candy. Sometimes we talked in scary voices and pretended that we wanted to eat the children. One time we played dead, then grabbed at the kids as they passed by.

It was all very silly, but everyone enjoyed it. Afterward, Livia said thank you to us for giving her a night of trick-or-treating even though we had to stay home. Whew! Halloween accomplished!

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Day 232: Halloween Thoughts

Posted on 10/31/2020 by chick
  • Sean Connery died. I did not need this kind of news today. 🙁
  • More bad news: the high school was closed Friday. There were so many teachers absent due to Covid quarantines that there weren’t enough at school to cover all the classes. In the announcement, there was a warning to expect this situation to happen again. Everyone is worried that Covid is going to explode over the next few weeks.
  • Speaking of Covid, yesterday there were over 100,000 new cases and about 1,000 deaths. Today looks to be similar. It’s difficult to imagine, as we bend our thoughts toward enjoying Halloween, that some people are not celebrating the holiday, but instead having to deal with the unthinkable. My heart goes out to all of them.
  • Now that I know blue moons are not actually blue, they’re not that interesting to me. But tonight’s full moon was not just a blue moon, but also a Halloween moon, and Halloween moons ought not to be ignored. So, at some point late tonight, I looked out the window to see it. It was full and bright and the clouds were sweeping across it in a creepy, appropriately Halloweenish way. It was worth the look.
  • Note to self: today would have been less stressful had I planned ahead better.
  • Second note to self: Yes, I should have planned ahead better, but I met my daily minimum and also managed to pull off a Halloween celebration, so I’m going to give myself a pat on the back.
  • All things told, October was a good month. When we look back on this month in the photo album, we will see pictures from a hike in the woods, a trip to the park, pumpkin carving, two days of making and hanging decorations, a giant snowman, and Halloween.
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