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Writing

Winter Begins

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Pexels.com

I dug out my packet of hot chocolate mix from its hiding spot in the back of the pantry shelf. The shift to winter is palpable and I’m going to need a cup to get by. As a bonus, it was mixed and packaged by a friend of our child.

Late Friday afternoon, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services reported the first case of bird flu jumping to a human in the state. According to the release,

The individual was exposed to infected poultry while working with a commercial flock in northwest Iowa. The individual reported mild symptoms, has received appropriate treatment and is recovering. The case was identified through testing at the State Hygienic Laboratory and confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of December 20, 2024, the CDC has reported 64 confirmed human cases of H5 HPAI across nine states. The majority of the exposures are linked to infected poultry or dairy cows. There is no evidence that human-to-human transmission of influenza A(H5) is occurring in the U.S.

With all the egg production in Iowa, this was bound to happen. It could be a big deal, and it could be close to nothing. Time will tell.

No one wanted to shut down the government right now and the Congress didn’t yesterday. I don’t presume to know what the president-elect and his wealthy sidekick were thinking about this. I do know:

  • A continuing resolution was passed until March 14, which gives the new administration the ability to influence budget going forward. Everything else we heard in the media during the last 72 hours has been posturing.
  • Democrats would like to eliminate the debt ceiling completely, and this wasn’t the time for partial measures. They rejected the president-elect’s proposal to suspend the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is a leftover policy from World War I.
  • The Republican House could not pass a CR without Democrats helping them get the two thirds majority needed. The final CR had bipartisan, bicameral support, which is the way it is supposed to work, sort of.
  • If the Republican House had been doing their work and passed all of the funding bills in regular order, in a bipartisan way, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.
  • The main news media wants there to be a lot of drama because it helps their bottom line. Over-dramatization of the lack of a budget was, in part, the media’s doing.
  • In the end, what was expected to happen did.

While reading my 1981 journal I found a record of dreams of Mark Twain visiting one of my fellow Army officers, and Norman Mailer, at whose home I arrived by water landing. I don’t know what either of them meant. I do not dream about writing or celebrities that much. What I like is talking about writing with friends.

The lake trail walk will be chilly this morning, with ambient temperatures in the high teens and low twenties. As soon as the sun rises, I plan to get out on the trail.