Interesting Thanksgiving …
John was here on Wednesday. He spent some time trying to prune the Butterfly Bush outside the Office window. It, like all the other plants I inherited with the house, evidently had not had any attention since the previous owner died, or maybe not even before that.
So John plans to do a pruning for shape next Spring.
And he moved the roses off the porch and along the east side of the house where they will get sun and be protected from frost to their roots.
We then had chat time part of which was the new movie Glass Onion which we are both interested in seeing so we agreed to go see at a matinee in the local theatre as soon as it is available. Maybe with popcorn and a drink included.
Wednesday followed with thursday morning spent in contact with scattered family and friends. Then I did a solo walkabout which ended at dinner with Jenny and her mother. It was a pleasant couple of hours … good food and conversation.
Mark, Kamille, and Francis spent the day helping the local Resource Center serve Thanksgiving dinner to those who were burned out by the Mill fire. Then the volunteers were able to feast on the leftovers.
Friday they spent the day here and I had a good day being skunked by Francis four to two playing dominos while Kamille had to work on homework for the classes she is taking on line and preparing the class plans for the class she is teaching at the middle school so there was not too much time to visit with her.
Mark and I had time to talk after he replaced the connections to the lamp I am using as my bedside light for reading which was a rather scary fire hazard having been repaired by Nana who knows how long ago with tape and mismatched prongs on the wall plug.
Who knows how many years it had been since she last fixed it but it is now safe.
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Monday morning I went out for the walkabout but was able to do only one full round due to wind. I gave up after just one round. There were gusts of up to 50 miles per hour, enough that when I was walking into the wind I had to put my walking cane in front of me in order to keep my balance. The aspen are nearly all bare which makes it mostly clear for the view of the Mountain.
The weather reports were for not more than 38º all day which made for interesting wind chill readings.
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Recently there was another derailment at Cantara Loop on the railroad line between Mt Shasta and Dunsmuir. The last time that happened the train was carrying a hazard load of thousands of gallons of herbicide into the Sacramento River.
More than 19,000 gallons of a soil sterilizer and weed killer called Vapam was leaked into the river on the evening of July 14, 1991 killing fish and vegetation and sickening hundreds of people in the Dunsmuir and Sweetbriar area.
More than a million fish and tens of thousands of amphibians and crayfish were killed by the spill. Millions of aquatic invertebrates including insects and mollusks were lost according to the final report penned by the Cantara Trustee Council which was formed to address restoration, land acquisition and protection, research and public education.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of willows, alders, and cottonwoods eventually died.
Fortunately this time the load was less lethal.
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John was here last wednesday and gave me a gift … he moved the roses into a protected place under the carport where they will be protected from frost and he moved hand gardening stuff I had not yet been able to move from the porch to the shed.
He also finished pruning the butterfly bush where I had been unable to reach and will be back in Spring to do shape pruning in preparation for new growth.
We then had time for a chat which had been out of reach for a few weeks.
He had previously introduced me to Knives Out, a fun murder mystery movie with a typical disfunctional family.
The followup movie Glass Onion was released to theatres on Thanksgiving. John and I will go see it at a theatre matinee as soon as we can and be home before it gets too dark now that standard time is now in place.
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The following is a personal opinion …
There was a report on the news that so far there have been more than 600 mass shootings this year which makes the total more than two a day although there was recently a day with three lethal incidents.
That statistic indicates 49 deaths per day.
Gun owners seem to always cite the 2nd amendment as the “right” to own and/or carry guns of any kind.
Interesting that they cite but fail to prove any …well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
I wonder how many of those people using the 2nd amendment are members of the National Guard or any other “well regulated militia”.
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Too busy for editing. Sorry.
To end this week here’s a thought for the upcoming Solstice …
When we walk to the edge of all the light we have
And take that step into the darkness of the unknown,
We must believe that one of two things will happen –
There will be something for us to stand on
Or we will be taught how to fly.
— Patrick Overton
What is your thought concerning which will be the result of the choice we are facing.
So ‘til next week …