The Burrow

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Using Madison Square Garden for his rally scratched two itches  - his fascism and his narcissism.   It was also a very New York thing to do.   The Nazi rally starring Charles Lindbergh in Madison Square Garden is a familiar and distasteful image to every New Yorker.  Only a person with no respect for what makes America America would want to reenact it.  And a massive ego demands The Worlds Greatest Arena. I imagine that experience has been on his bucket list for a long time.  He's telling us and showing us who he is and who he will be.  I don't understand how the polls say this is so close. 

We were buying bikes for the Prince Elementary School Fall Festival raffle when JannyLou and I had the same thought at the same time.   What if it's the wrong size? And so, when I noticed a small kerfuffle around the winner of the final prize, I was not surprised that he'd won a bike that was as big as he was.   His dad was trying to make it work.  Blocks on the pedals.... moving the seat...  but there was no way to fix the main problem.  Like they say in basketball, you can't teach height. His teacher was sympathetic.  The social worker felt his pain.  I tried to see if the tags were still attached so that they could return it to Walmart. Then I stopped.   What color bike would you like? Blue. The helmet, too? OK, Grandma Suzi will bring you a blue bike and a blue helmet and a lock on Monday when you come to school.   His response was classic little kid - can I go play now? All the grown ups were teary eyed.  The bi...

The Spring Festival transformed itself into the Fall Festival this year at Prince Elementary School.  The playground had inflatables of gigantic size and games accessible to all.  Tickets were 4 for $1. Current staff's presence is mandatory.  The presence of the retired kindergarten teacher who came to volunteer was not.  But she represented the best part of the event - meeting old friends.  Her former colleagues were delighted to see her.  If they hadn't matured into teenagers I might have recognized the Prince alumni who hoped that I remembered them as they clearly remembered me. Of course I do, sweetheart.  Look at how grown up you are!  It works every time. I filled paper containers with chips for nachos.  I made sure the middle school and high school volunteers were supplied with water and confidence.  Then I looked for a chair. Two kindergarten teachers were in charge of the hobby horse race, located at the back of the event, with ...

I don't know why I'm trying, but I am.  Perhaps because I care about the person who asked me to listen to Theo Von's podcast with jdvance.  I'm not linking to it because no one else should have to suffer.  It's 2 hours and 2 minutes long.  I have 1 hour and 47 minutes left.   That may not be possible without recreational enhancements. The only thing I found to like in these first 15 minutes was that our wannabe vp likes the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's.  That's a fairly innocuous choice; everybody likes the Michael Jordan, 6-peat, Bulls....unless you're a Pistons fan. But after that, he fell short.  I live with a die hard Ohio State fan and I can tell you that he, unlike the wannabe vp, knows when Ohio State lost to Michigan and when they didn't, and he knows the margin of victory of every one of those game s. Listening to those two fumble through what had the potential to be a sports conversation I could follow with enthusiasm left me wanting....

don't worry, it's typed out below A Marin acquaintance has published a book .  I took it out of the library.  As I do with every book I hold in my hands, I read all the pages in the front.  I skimmed the laudatory blurbs.  I felt the paper (lovely, heavy, with a slight yellow cast that makes reading a pleasure).  I read the title, on a page all its own. I read the dedications (no one I recognized).  I read the copyright page (I'm sure it has a name all its own; I just don't know what it is.) This is all relevant to the point of this post.   The paragraph introducing this post appears at the bottom of that page, below the publisher's information and the ISBN.  It reads: NO AI TRAINING:   Without in any way limiting the author's (and publisher's) exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to "train" generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited.  The author reserves al...

  That warning, penned onto the container holding our club sandwich from Cheesecake Factory, made us wonder who needed to be reminded not to get poked by a toothpic(k). Club sandwiches always come with toothpicks holding the four quarters upright; those tiny triangles can't manage on their own.  Perhaps this was intended for a newbie. Cheesecake Factory's toothpicks have colorful cellophane wrapped around one end.  It's pretty obviously the only inorganic material in the box.  It stands out.  Who needs to be reminded not to eat the decorations?   Perhaps there was a lawsuit, like the woman who spilled drive through hot coffee in her lap.   Or is it something more sinister?  Are the toothpicks coming to life, four of them dancing across the living room, out to get us?   Who knows?

Fall arrived on Friday.  TBG and I were both wearing sweatshirts when we left in the morning.  Not-Kathy and I enjoyed our cocktails al fresco while the husbands watched more football in the evening.  We had the windows open all weekend long.  I began wearing my new walking sneakers up and around the neighborhood.   Monday morning found me at the front door of the school, watching as the newest member of the landscaping crew muscled a 3cu foot bag of soil onto his dolly which he then rolled all the way and into the garden bed where the scholars will incorporated it into the soil they are aerating, which is to say they are digging with great glee. I'm still not sure why they were filling up the wheelbarrow then dumping the soil right back into the garden bed, but they were happy with the shovels so I let them be.   4th graders followed this fellow around the fence, admiring the legs and the wings and the huge eyeballs.   By then it was ho...

Nannie opened and heated several of the microwave-able packets for Thanksgiving leftovers. In graduate school, it was a special treat, when I could afford all the ingredients.   As newly-weds, it was a satisfying dinner that TBG was happy to prepare; it was certainly not kosher and therefore most certainly did not come from my side of the family. It was a meal that satisfied the entire family when The Cuters were at home.   Stouffer's stopped making those square, orange boxes somewhere in the last decade or so.  (The older I get, the more time compresses... but that's fodder for another post)   No more uncovering the plastic container of frozen cheese, designed to be poured over turkey, tomato, bacon, and hard boiled egg slices resting on a freshly toasted Thomas' English Muffin.  It was a real loss to the limited repertoire of delicious and acceptable dishes I was capable of recreating, reliably, without consternation, on auto-pilot.   ...

The invitation was just like the one to the Tim Walz rally. Doors open at.... go to Table.... no this that and the other thing allowed within... wear comfy, campaign related attire... you can't share the invitation....bring a picture id.  I expected all of that. When they got to the no designated parking  information I began to worry.  I'm familiar enough with the area to know that means a walk of a mile or so, unless I parked at Amster's and Ubered back and forth.   And then there was this:  **Please note that this is a primarily standing   rally - there is limited seating for ADA guests  *** Doors open at 1:30; I'd have to be there a lot earlier than that.  It is billed as a late afternoon early evening event ;  I was exhausted just figuring out how long I would be on my feet.  7 hours, conservatively.   After discussing the situation with family and friends and my body, I've opted out.  Comfortable on the couch,...

I took Michelle Obama's DNC call to action to heart.  Every day, I've tried to do something to defeat the crypto-fascist-felon. Today I took these around town,  trying to put them into the dry, compacted, rocky, hot dirt at well traveled intersections.   I used the rubber mallet, but pounding just bent the ends of the frame while making no downward progress at all.  There were many likely places, but I soon learned to choose those with vegetation.  The roots loosen the soil somewhat.  I was able to set out a few before Grandma's Garden called.   That's why I still have some in the trunk of the UV.  I'm going to finish the task tomorrow, spreading out my contribution without having to do much thinking.   Thinking is emotionally dangerous right now.  There is so much at stake.

I received an email invitation to submit my details for a possible invitation to a GOTV rally for Kamala and Tim, headlined by President Barack Obama. My President.  It took me no time at all to fill out the form and click send. And then I fell into a funk.  Remembering those Obama years led me straight into the lair of the Lying Liar. How can people not notice that the man has no moral center.  No one who worked for him will work for him again, and their reasons are chilling. From there, I spiraled further. Polls show the race is tied - how can this be?  He tried to over throw the government, and his (I can't bring myself to capitalize it for him) veep choice thinks there was a peaceful transfer of power in 2021.   He dances with himself on stage for 38 minutes.... an unusually long time  in one media outlet's description... and it's not disqualifying.  He's a proud racist and the polls say young black men are in his corner. Gov. Walz pulled me o...

I could comment, but the shirts speak for themselves. Enjoy! VOTE Tell them Ruth sent you this woman is fierce! he got applause This was how the whole event felt. Fingers crossed.