From the ACLU, a little look into the future. Go here, turn up your sound and follow along (may take a while to load). Have you paid your dues to your local chapter this year? Along with Barbara Boxer, they are one of the few bastions of courage and resistance left in America today.
****************************
And here's an interesting link, from Rolling Stone via Truthout.com, an interview with Paul Krugman on the subject of Social Security. Could it be we're hearing another story along the lines of WMD in Iraq? Be afraid.....be very afraid?
******************************
Drinking coffee, waiting for the snow. The possible snow. I don't like to complain about the weather - after all, there are people in J-land, I'm sure, who live in places like Minnesota, South Dakota, Chicago, Ontario. Yes, but they expect cold weather like this, and far worse, don't they? I live very close to the Mason-Dixon line, southern Delaware may even technically BE The South. So, why was it -5 degrees with the wind chill factor this morning? My poor little birds - they're too cold to come to the feeders and chow down. I've hacked (literally, with a hatchet) the ice out of the largest bird-bath and put in a heater, so there will be some open water for them. It's been like this for far too many days now, everything is frozen solid. Logs are frozen into the woodpile, I can't pry them loose. The daffodils, the winter jasmine, the japanese quince - all were starting to Think Spring, shoots and buds. The rhododendrons are terrified, their leaves curled into tight little rolls. Some snow would be a relief, cover the iron-frozen ground with a soft, forgiving, blanket of moisture.
I have big fleece-lined boots, and a greatcoat that comes down to the tops of my boots (it even has a hood), mittens lined with goretex, down comforters, flannel pjs, long underwear - I'M okay. It's the plant and bird life I worry about, and I probably shouldn't. They've seen this before, although not since I've been living in this area. This is the coldest weather we've had in the nearly seven years we've been here. I always think about the homeless when winter cold sets in, wonder how/if humans without nests make it through. Local churches are setting up shelters in parish halls, and they are filling up on these single-digit nights.
I know it's cold everywhere, it was even unusually cold in San Antonio when I called my nephew to wish him a happy birthday on the weekend. (The kid shares a birthday with Dr. King, and he's proud of it.) So if you are reading this I hope you have a fire in the fireplace, an afghan over your knees, or - even better - a big cat on your lap, some warm soup in your bowl, and someone you love to keep you warm in the night.
And.....whoops! here come the first flakes, almost on schedule. There may be no afterschool program today, things get cancelled here if people see a snowflake.
6 comments:
Right now the temperature in Acapulco is 91. The breezes constant from the southwest and the skies are cloudless. My heart breaks for you -- it really does. In fact, tonight I might crank up the air conditioner a couple of degrees out of sympathy. For now, however, I think I'll fix an iced tea and sit under the palms as I watch the sun set over a dark blue Pacific. You know, I really don't miss snow and ice at all!
yeah Tim, i know you're glad to be AWAY from Kansas City. you dog. rub it in why don't you?
I'll read the article eventually but I probably don't have to. Around here we concluded this past week that the SS crisis is just as elusive as the WMD. What we can't figure is how we have a president who (1) is so delusional and (2) is so able to convince other people that what he sees is real.
It was 86 degrees here today, and when I picked the little one up from school I received an awful tongue lashing for sending her out this morning in a turtleneck. I love the cold and the rain, I just wish the rain did not cause people here mudslides. But I do love the rain. Wow a heater in the birdbath. My Anthopology professor fussed at me for giving a heater to my dog in the garage, energy waste and such. However, I do not turn it on unless it drops below 50. I feed the birds too, anything left over that is white, ----bread, rice, pasta. They love it, but I think I am beginning to get some lazy birds. Some mornings they are all hanging out on the back utility wire waiting for me. Once one of them squeals the message that there is food, they all come flying down. They poop everywhere. Hmmnm...sorry.
Enjoy the snowflakes, it sounds lovely.
btw, I think technically the South starts south of the Mason-Dixon. Are you South of it?
kathleen - the birdbath heater is along the lines of a slightly larger immersion heater of the type we used to make instant soup/coffee/cocoa in the college dorm. it keeps the water above the freezing mark, doesn't heat it. i can't imagine it uses much energy. and it's important that there be open unfrozen water for the birds here and there - and your dog deserves decent quarters, even in the garage - i even have a greenhouse heater going for my plants. life must go on. here in the house we never put the thermostat above 58 when we're up, and it's at 52 during the night. and that's even when it's 14 degrees outside.
Arf! Arf! Bow Wow!
Post a Comment