March 27, 2021

Of course, & he thinks they actually like him b/c nobody else hangs out with him!

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1344019586757386240

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1335072391869984769

March 27, 2021

Two signs that it's that time of life (stage)

Sign 1: Still able to mow my grass, but for now because there's been none to cut since the end of last summer. There was a small sample to do last week and lasted half an hour followed by flat out nap time. Soon it will be blazing hot with voracious growth and lots of scheming about doing it in early evening with mosquitos or early morning if no dew. And spread over 2 or 3 days with three hours flat out after each session. The change in stage of life is coming, meaning contracting it out.

Sign 2: The easy parts have been in the can for years - managing the disposition of material effects, cremation with all arrangements and Will. Getting rid of *things* is easy. The harder part is the PAPERS. Probably everybody knows what "THAT BOX" means - or boxES, of crap residue of the lifetime. Probably nobody would miss any of it and will never study it - we want them to or DO we?!1 Yet, it's a pang to trash it - the scribblings and relationships. Yet all that PAPER, so proximate to *trash* in material worth. But all those biographies and autobiographies of Great People, where every dang detail and scrap was hoarded and precious. And us English majors fantasize about having our psyches dissected - by an UNDERSTANDING, COMPASSIONATE interpreter - down to the cell level and beyond to whatever smaller unit comes.

So then the option rationalized into transferring all the paper onto DISCs and shredding the paper - brilliant! This became a mania of *months* - sorting, chronologizing, scanning all Landscapes into Portraits. Not unexpected but worse was the *RE-LIVING* of every scrap of life.

Turned out into two large sections. So it's all done. Two discs. Binders and hundreds of page protectors donated to Habitat. Special carrying case for the discs, and don't DARE scribble anything else. And who knows what to do with the discs.

March 27, 2021

Will answer to "Leonardo," per favore: My engineering of a cane-seat

Remember Election 2020, the fervor to vote and expectations of hours in line. Well, I was possessed to find a "cane seat" since I'm a portly (then age 73, now 74). First, the odyssey of googling, shopping by internet or finding a local outlet, extensive comparison of seat sizes and sturdiness (230 lbs). It turned out that two big box sporting good stores had them, apparently used by golfers. Happily, Dick's, the one on the correct side of non-guns, had the better one. Then my big day of early voting came, and the thing stayed in the trunk because there was no line at all. Fine.

Then the covid vaccine lines came along, and too late, already in a 3 hours' line, I remembered the cane seat for the second jab, but it turned out that the 2nd jab was a faster thing, so it stayed in the trunk.

But a further use turned out, since I'm a wimp about trimming my dog's nails, or rather both he and I are about my doing it, and after a couple of years of bouncing around for small business groomers to do it, we ended up at a chain place that - get this - had no seating. So the first time the cane seat hit the spot!1 But then the next time, the three legged thing would *not* stay standing, would sway over to one or another side with me scarcely escaping being splattered on the deck.

The problem was obvious: That the spread of the three legs was too narrow, or close together. My pondering (mental work) went on for weeks, with my first thought being to BEND the aluminum legs apart, perhaps a double bend with outward slantings near the joint and downward slantings to the ground. My mental wheels kept turning, settling on replacing the screw with a longer one, perhaps also including some bending.

More weeks passed before getting around to gathering the bolt and nut, finding only the eye-bolt, 1/4 inch thick and 4 inches long. Thinking some more about the steps, having to hack saw tightly the light weight bolt, then probably having to drill the holes wider for the eye bolt, both tasks likely to be troublesome.

So today, all other tasks abating for the moment, took it up. I decided to experiment first with just the bolt length without any bending of the legs. And the two steps were unexpectedly easier and the eye bolt and nut worked as projected. But then, surprise surprise, the legs were just as unstable as before, swaying over to one or the other side. After a couple of attempted seatings and adjusting the spacing of the legs, the problem became clear: The eye bolt had *BENT* from my weight?!1 ------I was astounded, since I assumed a 1/4 inch thick bolt could take me like a feather!1

So instead of the big box place that was limited in its bolts, went to a specialized local bolts-and-steel place. Nope, the humorless dude said his bolts were all bendable, not iron. There were other places, and found one. This dude had the right stuff and it was the strongest composition, and 54 cents. I had the bent eye bolt with me and left him laughing about what bent it.

Back at the engineering studio, the iron or steel bolt introduced into the aluminum holes well, with only a few turns of a vice plier. And apparently the spread was fine with the length of the bolt. The seating feels sturdy and stable. First serious use will be at the next appointment for dog nails clipping.

March 6, 2021

Separating a Party personality from our Party agenda (B.Clinton, Cuomo). Date of post March 6.

Many/most of us Dems here went to the mat defending Bill against the (what I called *FAKE* ) impeachment. Even back then I blamed both him and her for their selfishness but knew that my defense was grounded on Party loyalty, seeing the attack as purely partisan.

When the dust settled much reflection and digestion ensured, and I reached the clarification that my Democratic allegiance is based on the Party’s *AGENDA* (civil rights, civil liberties, social justice, stewardship of the planet). *NOT* on any single leader/personality.

I realized for myself that, its being *SO* difficult and precious to win our time in power, it is a WASTE of our precious time in Power to spend all of our energy defending one person ------ instead of being able to use it on working on our agenda. A waste and a distraction.

If it were happening today I would not defend Bill. I would want him to resign and let Al take over. Never again any one personality.

I love it when we find a leader with charisma who WINS and therefore will be more effective in moving our agenda forward even if in the tiniest steps. But being a Dem is not a Gold Card for anything goes. If a Dem has bundles of illicit cash in the freezer or whatever the flaw, the Dem label is forfeited.

So, Andrew is just too much déjà vu. Even without the investigation so far, it’s just too much ugly distraction and parsing and weeping. My little, one-person support or lack thereof is negligible, but for the record it’s bye time.

March 3, 2021

A break for the Group from true art, just for a (smile?)