Last Week of Oct

here the birds are...

Nov 1st is closing day at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area so if Im going to see any wintering ducks I best go now...so I've got a couple sandwiches made and ready to toss in the cooler along with some fizzy waters and a couple other food items and plan to leave bright and early in the morning.  No later than 7.  

It's about a 3 hr drive each way...I will take I-95 but there is a lot of secondary roads to drive on each end of that...about an hr on my end and another hour on the other end...it's beyond Charleston in a little dip called Green Pond..and it's really not even in Green Pond it's beyond it. If I didn't have the dogs to come home to feed, I'd stay.  There is a primitive campground at Santee Coastal another great birding spot about 12 miles north.. I would take the dogs but there's a couple problems with that..they would have to be in the van all day except when I could walk them on leash and at Coastal it's a park and walk so they would have to stay in the car alone and that will not work.  

Both of these places have BIG gators...so dogs not going.  I've often tried to think of a way to do auto feeding for one meal...lol...recall the one in Back to the Future?  I know there are some on the market but expensive and I have 2 dogs and they don't share!! 

Today I did very little.  It was cloudy as heck when I got up now it's gorgeous.  I went to town and got a few items I needed, stopped to visit the cemetery, and then back home I did a little wood sawing, pitched a few fallen limbs into the yard from the woods and cut those up some I've had my eye on.  

The NY Times today in this last week before the election showed this graph on economic/job growth...Trump is running on his "strong" economy..but is it Strong? The fact is he is below every President since 1993. 

FROM NY TIMES

Now with many states in a decline due to the virus this slight recovery you see here is in jeopardy...He is doing NOTHING to grow the economy...it's bouncing on it's own accord.  He had given no incentives, he just keeps saying we have to open back up...but he did not pass the stimulus to help businesses open Safely as Joe Biden keeps saying...Trump keeps saying Biden will shut the country down..but Biden says NO...open safely...

2 different ball games folks, Biden wants to help businesses, put safe practices in place, help them buy disinfectants, help them provide masks, and PPE, help them hire more workers so they can add second shifts to make social distancing easier to accomplish...to hire workers for external delivery options.   Trump is not helping the businesses...the one stimulus was created in the House, passed by Senate and Signed by him.  

He can barely take credit for the early growth as Obama had a very good economy going on...Trump bashed the steel market and the Ag Market to the ground! He had to pass out a hand out to farmers just so they will vote for him.  40% of the AG income came out of our pockets.  So that hardly counts as growth that us taking a loss...

We took a loss on steel, on corn and soybean, on job growth, on lives...etc etc etc...

All those coal jobs? Well we all know coal is OUT...and soon OIL will be too...maybe not in our life time but this century for sure.  They will NOT be running on Oil in 2100.  80 yrs from now..

Tomorrow night I want to get back early enough to watch This Is Us the show returns with a 2 hrs special premiere.   It begins at 9 pm.  I've been watching it for the past couple seasons so I hope it keeps my attention, it's going to be a long dark winter I predict in my case.  I don't enjoy doing puzzles, or reading books, I do enjoy a good movie or TV show cause I can nap through it if I chose to.  Of course I will be feeding the fireplace so I will hardly get to sit still for 5 mins let alone get interested in something...
I used to read fiction like crazy.  Then when I had to get bifocal lenses it made that hobby not very enjoyable.  I have to hold the book just at the right angle or I can't see it, and my arms get tired so I finally gave up on reading as an evening activity.  

So I hope to see lots of birds, Bear Island is good for ducks, wading birds, shore birds  and passerines too...so wish me luck may not get an early post out depends on  how tired I am when I get back.  

So many things are wrapping up this week...the end of a week, the end of a Month, the end of Day Lights Savings, Halloween,  the end of an Election Year, and the end of the Summer Birding. 

1-5 scale

hat score would you give this year?

For me it's been a Negative -1 

I think at the end of this year I will do a What Went Wrong Highlight..because I honestly can't find a damn thing UP to now that was good...hopefully on NOV 4th I will have one good thing to add to this year.  But if it goes the other way just go ahead and FLUSH, cause its circling the drain as we breath. 

So I kinda off and on watched Joe Young my son was texting me for the first hour and I missed some bits of it, he didn't come over he said he was cleaning...I would never try to deter him from cleaning!! I know what you are saying...why the importance of the movie watching, well it's about the only common ground I can find...

Anyways it was actually well done for the year it was made...and a pioneer in Stop Animation for a feature film...I'd give it a 3+ on the 5 scale.  The premise was this young girl went to Africa and saves  a giant baby gorilla from poachers...and she brings  him back to the US with her and of course he is exploited and eventually becomes a danger to society and you know the GUNS are drawn...then the young girl started to try and hide him and escape the police, and in the meanwhile the orphanage caught fire and Joe Young saved many children and they lived happily ever after..
There was a 1998 remake of the film I have seen that one also...anyways it was okay for 1949, and it worked  for me in 2020!

I find myself in a grumpy mood today...first off the calorie counting is going good but still it's annoying...second of all its raining and I feel like a caged animal. I actually went outside in the yard when it stopped for an hour but it's humid.  I did saw up one log I had brought up from the field last week...and filled up the bird feeders checked their water, and brushed Flossie and Annie's coats...now Im bored again.  

I watched a couple youtubes and I may go ahead and just watch the movie I been wanting to see Son has to work tonight and so I think I'll just watch it.  One of the Youtubes I watch is called Justice Matters and the vlogger is an x-DOJ prosecutor.  He sometimes  is an expert advisor on TV News and he is on top of Decisions being passed down and today his vlog was about a decision passed down by a judge  in DC saying Post Master Gen  DeJoy is to replace the sorting machines he removed from the postal service!! My sister is a retired post master so this kinda hits home with me...she worked in a very small office up in the Rocky Mtns, so she had no sorting machines but she depended on larger offices to make sure her mail was delivered on time.  It's a not so well oiled machine, there is a lot of bureaucracy  in the Postal Service, but it can not be fixed by removing machines!! ADDING more yes! OMG didn't even try to hide what he was really up to..

So a federal judge says NO and you better be here on Friday to tell me what you're doing in answer to my ruling.  These are the type judges we need....and people it's very apparent that we need a system overhaul of our 3 branches of the govt..there are many loop holes that people LIKE Trump can make use of and will now that he has shown how much he can and has gotten away with. 

Since I know how it feels to be poor, I can not fathom how men such as Trump who say they have it "ALL" want more...and would take from the ones who have nothing to give more to themselves?  I don't understand that kind of greed.  It goes way beyond my "justice" meter to just plain "off with their heads"...lol my scale of justice is pretty severe.  I do believe in getting even when someone has unjustly done someone wrong or tried to get more of the pie than they are entitled to or deserve.  That grey area is where the most people should be not off in "out of whackville." 
⚖

 My sister and her husband are vacationing in Utah...she said no wonder they have covid spiking all over the state no one is wearing a mask!! I think I would have thought twice about going there...but I think they had already rescheduled from earlier in the summer. 

I think the reason the cases are spiking in the mid west and Mountain time zone now is due to lack of compliance...so the virus traveled to where it's more welcomed! Howdy do...thanks for rolling out the welcome mat. 

I had some left over pasta sauce it has to be used so Im going to make some spaghetti for my dinner. I added some frozen broccoli to the sauce to spice it up.   I will make only enough for one serving so I can't go beyond my 1700 rule....today is Sunday when you read this it will be Monday and I hope Im in a brighter more inquisitive mood tomorrow. 

Coming Clean

ITH A LITTLE ELBOW GREASE.... 

My screen porch looks like I repainted...the grime was thick! Summer brings pollen, dust, rain and humidity makes it into a layer of nasty! So I wiped down the uprights, the ceiling, the trim the 2 walls on the inside, and even took the wicker chairs out and gave them a good spray off...and Now it looks really clean and nice.  Except the floor which needs to be repainted...I would like to mop it but that would ruin my mop.  So I may try to splash water on it them scrub with the broom, then vacuum up the water with the rug shampooer? Think it may work?

Glad it's done for another year.  I need to sew some new covers for the chair cushions...so I will go through my fabrics and see what I have...that will be a good rainy day project.  Last night the movie watching didn't happen, my son was too tired and had to go into work early and I was already napping at 7 pm...so its on the back burner.  I don't think it's gonna happen tonight either, so Svengoolie may be the main attraction ..lol.

Lets see what he has on...Mighty Joe Young...1949, early attempts at Stop Motion Animation.  Could be korny.  Anyways we shall see. 

You know I don't think Trump had the virus...I really think the whole thing was staged!  He still does not wear a mask?  It was another way to downplay the virus....his own personal "play" or to cover up some other medical issue....and I don't think his wife had it either.  ONLY ONE doctor came forward and said anything, AND no doctor spoke for her??  Trumps Dr honestly did not seem honest and forthright.  AND no Dr in his right mind would tell him he is now immune to it, that is another reason I think it's all a hoax.  And since when is the POTUS Dr, not a older very experienced Dr?  In fact he is not an MD.  He is a DO...this means Osteopathic..a holistic healer, he is 40 yrs old...my son is gonna be 40.  He got out of college in 2003, and he went only 6 yrs..sooooo you do the math. 

Because I had the virus and I know how it knocked me down, Trump is obese, he does not exercise swinging a club is not exercise, he eats garbage, McDonalds meals.   He probably has high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and very high cholesterol, so honestly I doubt that he had the virus.  He may have had chest pains, he may have had symptoms of a stroke, and he may have had something else happen...I just don't believe it.  Why? because it does not add up.  

And now the laptop gossip....the whole story is BUNK...ok NY POST is a rag tag anyone who lives in NY will tell you it's a great paper to find a Room mate, a room to rent, a man seeking man, woman seeking discreet woman, this is what the NY POST is...it is not top of line media...even the writer of the story did not put his name to the article.  The so called Biden Laptop is a big pile of horse manure....this DNI guy Ratcliffe, is a Trump puppet who also said the "Proud Boys emails sent to voters was done to hurt Trumps chances to win."  ITS so strange how NOTHING of this sort has happened in past elections...And it's so strange that Ratcliffe happens to be involved in both these "plots" trust me it's all fabricated...Trump thinks he can hack his way into keeping the Oval office.

In the debate he was questioning Joe Biden as if Biden was the President and he was the contender?  Did anyone notice that?  He kept saying you had 8 yrs, first off Joe was VP, and the jobs he was given to do he did successfully...he was asked to  oversee  the $840 Billion bail out of the economy in 2008...and he  got the support needed for the Dodd Frank to hold banks accountable and to secure our financial future, he shored up the Auto Industry, and he chaired the Middle Class Taskforce to help shore up middle class families livelihoodsHe represented tyhe USA in 150 countries where he met with world leaders and helped to put the message of American resolve forward....where has Pence been on that??? Nationalism, is not foreign policy. 

 ...I only wish Joe had asked Trump..  "why hasn't Pence fixed all these problems that you seem to think I could have fixed when I was VP?  Trump has done nothing for this country except tear down some of the good things we had going  on the environment, on health care, on human rights, on equal rights, on voters rights, on the matters of world stability, he has wrecked it all!!  Our image in the world is forever tarnished...

Now you tell me...Hunter Biden walks into a shabby computer store where the ship owner says he is "blind"  can't really say for sure it was "THE" Hunter Biden...give me a break that's ridiculous...for a couple of reasons.  Nobody brings in a laptop to get the data copied off "important damaging data" then abandon's it...LOL...that is completely insane.  
"Oh this information could be top secret, and could destroy mine and my father's integrity, but wth, I'll just leave it there."  LOL...the chances of that happening are about as rare as us seeing Trumps Tax Returns. 

As for the phasing out of the Oil Industry that is the objective of the entire world not just the USA!! 

I do believe all these lies will come out and we will know the truth of it all once Trump is put back into the Pandora's box he jumped out of, and I think he will take some long term Politicians like Graham and McConnell down with him...

That's it for this installation of Writtin's! 

Friday on Saturday.

ITH NATURE EVERYTHING IS BETTER

It was a gorgeous day a little warm but not bad at all...So I spent the day out hiking and doing a little birding, and just enjoyed being out there.  I went to Chesterfield county to the wildlife refuge.  Saw almost no one else...had the place to myself.  Very nice.  Saw some good birds too...

I took my lunch with me, and had a wonderful solo picnic...I was remembering the many times my Mom and I sat at that same table and enjoyed a picnic while looking at the lake, and listening to the birds sing...Great memories.  

So it's Friday again as you noticed! It comes around so fast anymore...and another month is nearly over and the anniversary of my Mom's passing is swiftly approaching.  I can't believe a whole year and a pretty sucky one at that...
Im thinking of another movie night, celebrate Friday...just because.
I have chosen a Nicholas Cage flic called Kick Ass...it's a Superhero, Action Comedy...not my usual genre.   My son may or may not join me, he is invited..

I watched some of the debate last night Trump told more lies than I've ever heard he makes stuff up or what?  Biden seemed annoyed with the whole thing and Im just glad that's over with...today I dropped my son's ballot off at the Post Office on my way to the refuge since I had to go right past took it out of the mailbox.  The lady said she will take good care of it. 

Covid is raging now...some people are dying within one week of catching it.   It can get you no matter how hard you try to not get sick...I have put myself on a diet.  Since the illness and the hot summer where I was so inactive I gained weight! So I'm tracking my calories.   Wish me luck!! And I am  increasing my activity. I am putting a cap of calorie to 1700 per day to start and then drop it to 1600.  Im not going to do some drastic plan that I can't stick to...Like I had my 3 meals today and I still have 275 left for a snack later...cause I enjoy having a snack or I get hungry in the middle of the night...

I want to chance my dogs diets also.  I stopped giving them canned dog food now I think I want to do away with the kibble too...I want them to get more vitamins and minerals that they need,  So I am going to look into What I can do.  I was giving them chicken tenders and Floss got to where she didn't like it, so I changed to meat balls precooked...plus the kibble...but I read kibble is not giving them all the vitamins n minerals they need.  

So another slow day here and I like that kind of day! 

Hope your Friday was good...

Mirror Mirror on the wall...

ent for a ride today 

In the neighboring county.  And enjoyed a short hike in the State Park there...in summer we sometimes go for a swim in the pond they have there.  At first  I had it all to myself then a couple with some children and a dog showed up...I had fun checking out the birds in the big trees that occupy the picnic area.  Had about 15 species of bird for my list today.  I really enjoy birding and It's one of my favorite hobbies. I started keeping a list in 1993. 

Some skeeters were around, we are back into the low 80's this week, next week back to the 70's I prefer.  At first I had planned to clean up the screen porch get it ready for winter...I normally wipe down all  the painted surface to remove the grime that summer makes with all the rain and the dust...but I think doing that when it's 70 makes more sense than when it's 82.  

Last night I watched 2 Movies on Youtube.  Wild Witch an English dubbed version of the Danish, Vildheks..,very good, I really enjoyed the set, the theme, and the critters,  A whimsey story of a coming of age witch that speaks to the wild world and protects it from the forces of darkness...I guess I fancy myself a wild witch of sorts.  Then I watched Epoch a Sci-fi adventure also quite good...enjoyed both then called it a done day..

Im actually resting now as I bought some fast food and sat in the picnic area of the park and ate it, now my stomach is not happy...should have know better...but with Pizza last evening and toast with greasy margarine this morning,,,just what I needed was another oily meal...NOT!! Like I said I like spicy it doesn't like me...

Will I watch the last debate, I see no reason to...it will only make my indigestion worse...I will catch the recap on the news.  I just hope Joe holds his temper if he can.  He does not walk away from a fair fight...we need someone with real emotions in the white house...Trump's only emotion is Vanity.  

My son had to vote Absentee by mail since the DMV did not change his address as we had hoped nothing is that simple eh?  So we received the ballot and he filed it out then it had to go inside a ballot envelope and then inside a prepaid envelope that I had to witness him placing his ballot in and now it will be mailed tomorrow...It has a bar code so we can track it...But I think I will take it to the Post Office and drop it there because our carrier is a rural route carrier, her car is a disaster I don't know how she ever keeps things dry and organized.

And Last week the Bishopville post office burned to the ground for the second time in 3 yrs.  It took more than a year for the new post office to be built...and it's only been open less than a year.  SO they discovered the same man set if on fire AGAIN...and he tired to set the Court House on fire also.  They have video evidence...So when you damage a post office thats a federal crime!

I have to wonder why he did this??? Now he will probably spend the rest of his life in jail...he looks to be an older man...I don't understand that one...

And my phone got some kind of virus...now it's having all kinds of issues.  The last time that happened I tried to reset it to factory settings and ended up having to get a new Phone! I don't know WHY we can't be protected from this type thing?? 
It's crazy..I installed Malwarebytes and it found 2 trojans in my phone but they are in system apps so I can't like uninstall so I did uninstall last updates...but it still is acting funny...Any day I expect it to crash and I can't get another phone until12 months passes from the date they sent this one...I can purchase ONE....but I'd rather not have to!! 
 

Then Malware bytes was killing the battery it runs in the background all the time...so I uninstalled it.  Just can't win.
That's my day in a nutshell...

The Big Mouth of Small Govt?

HY GOOGLE?

So the GOP say they want less govt interference in our lives...yet DAILY there is some new BS they are up to!  They Micro Manage ever faucet of our life!! From the Post Office to now Google!

I personally think it's because Google is full of BAD Press on Trump because he is Bad Press....he is just plain bad.  Google is a news outlet basically...and even some support is coming from both parties, too many cooks spoil the broth. 

The headlines this morning on the NY Times Barr is suing Google?  I like Google, can't stand Explorer or Bing,  when they broke up Ma Bell it was never the same...I CHOSE GOOGLE.  When this laptop arrived as a Christmas Present I had to jump through all sorts of locked Microsoft gates to get Google Chrome on it.  First off it would not Allow me to do it.  So I kept Googling up till I found the solution...and thank goodness.  I hate explorer it shoves ads right into your mouth if it's open, if I had to go back to using explorer I'd give up seriously.  AND viruses, I think they create them so they can create the solution for them..

More news....

there was something about a secret Chinese Bank Account for Trump?? I didn't read that story cause Im about to wipe Trump out of my memory banks for good!! I suggest you do the same.  He is about to get his walking Papers...and hopefully a couple more along with him...McConnell only wants that  Justice confirmation for the Koch Brothers who control him like the puppet he is...OMG if the conservatives had their way all the women in this country would be barefoot and pregnant and all the men would be what??? Why is it always some other group they try to control...where is the laws, the bills, the threat to control the lives of white men?? 

Trump orders investigations into the Biden Family WHY??? His own family is the most crooked in the USA...he has shown us that over and over with his shady deals, his lying taxes, and his skipping out on debts owed, by  scamming people and with outright emulsions up the wazoo.  

Did you know that Trump had the Census ended early?  Another attempt to defraud the election, to take from the PEOPLE and the States, and to take away MORE of the help we the people have!  This will affect the next 10 yrs of our lives! He has pulled every rug he could pull.  He is a complete crook!! 

The courts he padded with the help of McConnell have already begun to side with him...concerning his tax returns and his financial matters.   Those tax records must be extremely revealing of his improper deals, frauds, and tax evasion! The subpoena's issued by NY and one by Congress...now he is back again saying the subpoena was issued in bad faith and now he wants the Supreme Court to look at it again... Judge Neomi Rao, appointed by TRUMP and pushed in via McConnell to the DC court of appeals was hearing the case again concerning the House of Rep subpoena.  She said about Trump's case that the House of Rep. is only half a Branch of Govt...  in a mocking way, I guess she is implying that the GOP controlled Senate is the other half and has a different opinion on this matter?...she is NOT being impartial...and this is the type judge he has put in place.  She is a crooked judge!  She does not think the House should have any authority of oversight concerning the Executive Branch! 

This is why Biden may HAVE to add more judges, to over ride these unqualified judges now in place. 

This weeks AS I See IT was about the Electoral College.  It's a very confusing system...but I would rather see the voters make this decision...Because the EC is NOT diverse and sometimes the person who holds that electorate vote will not do what they have been sworn to do to side with the people...so it's a very flawed system.  Change needs to happen.  I don't know how many years it would take to end up with more than 2 political parties and that is the problem.  I think the popular vote candidate should get the Office,,,,NOT  how Trump got elected!!

I moved my plants back into their winter holding area except for one...it will go in later.  I have less than I did before, 2 plants died this summer.  I was not in a hurry to save them as those 2 were the ones that made the most mess by shedding leaves, one Boston fern squirrels destroyed it, and one asparagus fern it got attacked by some fungus...will not miss them. And I won't be sweeping the floor every day to keep those leaves up. Other than that I did some cleaning, and laundry and lots of little things unload the dishwasher, swept off the deck had some lunch and  now Im listening to podcasts, and about to call it day!

So a very easy day to get me over the hump.  I have one of those frozen Margarita's in my freezer, I may put in a personal size pizza and have that drink! I have some You Tube movies on my Que so I think an evening of easy living is in my future. 

Soul Search...

RITE IT DOWN...

That's what I do with my pain.  I write it down.  I am still not feeling whole inside, the trauma of yesterday has brought back all kinds of things I try so hard to forget...how can a creature of innocence and peace die in such a traumatic way?

PTSD.  

I question all my beliefs, and I recall all the bad events roll it all into one bad ball and try to roll it over the hill...

Today I drove to a place of refuge and took a 4.5 mile hike.  I inhaled the Goldenrod, I watched the butterflies and bees, I saw the birds and I tried to reconnect my spirit with my flesh.  I heard the call of the frog, as they croaked back n forth keeping track of their locations, then the Heron flies over looking for the frog....

I write it down....

WHY WHY WHY 

Does it matter

Yes it matters to me...

Time does not heal...it simply makes things fade away...