I have ignorance overload.  It’s beyond belief.  If you voted for this reckless, vulgar idiot, or didn’t vote, I have nothing to say to you.  Go crawl back in your prehistoric cave and let the few remaining intelligent life forms get back to evolving.  Nothing more to say.

On a cheerier note, erev greetings.  We’re still here.  L’chaim.

My “pet” squirrel seems to have taken up permanent residence on the windowsill.  Here are various poses from this morning.

At Charleston Falls (home of “Thorny Badlands”) the prairies wildflowers were going wild.  It was a display fit for a Monarch (butterfly).  Down at the falls, we saw a couple of large snakes basking on rocks.

We adjourned to (where else) the Tavern for beers,etc., where we hung out with one of our favorite wait-girls. Then we visited the old fat black cat who just sleeps all day at Dark Star books (and picked up some books), and also our friendly lady at the art/ stationary store.

I mowed today, so here are flowers and gardeny stuff.

As threatened, here are some photos at the Narrows, where some of the forest paths were spring-fed streams after recent rains.  The river was deep and quiet.  A few summer flowers were starting to show out in the prairie meadows.

We still try to imagine our future home and wildflower garden, even after all the disappointments and setbacks.  It’s all we have to look forward to.

It seems my squirrel has determined the windowsill where I water my herbs every morning is a perfect place to take an early morning snooze and bask in the sun.  The mulberry is getting huge, and provides excellent cover and food for all kinds of birds, while squirrelly just dozes against the window, oblivious to it all.  Eventually he moseys down the tree.

Did I mention we’re severely nature-and-pet-deprived?  Every morning I direct E to her coffee in front of ambient wildlife relaxation videos, to start the day right, since we’re restricted from stepping out into our yard.  Today’s video is birds for cats to watch to keep them amused.  Or for humans, when they can’t have birds and cats.

I think we’ll find a park and go hiking again today.  It keeps us sane.  More photos are in your future.

I’m trying to stay hopeful and positive, while everything seems to be disintegrating around us, from the micro-minutiae to the macro-world.  We seem to be at a stand-still, yet racing toward a bleak future.  Stupidity and meanness seem to be the rule, not the exception.  All we can do is stare in disbelief at the breakdown of everything we depended on, on so many levels.

Still, we have to hope that some people are still sane and rational, and will do the right thing.  Meanwhile, we all have to survive and not give up.  The future seems to be a luxury of the privileged few, so make the most of the good moments we have left.  That’s all for now.

Never in all the decades that E has been coming to John Bryan has she seen the river this high, after the heavy rains.  It looked like a wide raging Little Mississippi instead of Miami.  The rushing water came up over banks, trees, islands, and paths, and formed a strong whirlpool where there wasn’t one before.  The woods were like a cool jungle, with lots of waterfalls.  Note how high the water came up the bridge foundations.  The bench, normally on dry land, had water lapping up against it.

Here at The Almanac, we’re getting the tropical storm effects working their way up from the Gulf through the Tennessee Valley to the Ohio Valley.  Lots of wind and rain.  Can’t complain.

Being in the same climate band as TN is ironic.  This is the TN of the north.  I’ve said before OH has been in many ways a boot camp for TN.  Ignorance is universal.  I think in hindsight, I’ll look back on this forced delay as a chance to work through a lot of karma and crap, to gain more insight into living in poor middle America, and to acknowledge how much worse it could be.

Some days I’m so discouraged and depressed by national news that I hope I die sooner and miss the catastrophe that trump & co. are bringing down upon us.  Maybe they think if they drag out the damage longer, maybe ignorant voters won’t see what’s happening in time to vote these criminals out.  But it will still be awful for millions of poor, at-risk Americans.

Anyway, back at the present, we carry on, though not always in the best of spirits.  Even the Skullies are subdued.  That’s all I have for now.

This little guy was watching as I watered my herbs this morning.  Squirrels and birds love the mulberry tree.  He kept trying to figure out what was going on in here!  (Sometimes I wonder myself!)