Author: Paul Deaton

Categories
Living in Society

Habitat for Change

Milkweed bug and Monarch caterpillar having breakfast in our yard.

It was a long process to create a habitat where Monarch butterflies would stop on their annual migration, lay eggs, and provide images like the one above in our garden. Both milkweed bugs and Monarch butterflies are creatures of a very specific set of conditions. Without those conditions, neither would exist as they do.

So it is with politicians. It turns out Democratic members of the Iowa Senate also require specific conditions to thrive, and removed Minority Leader Zach Wahls, and replaced him with the more experienced Senator Pam Jochum last week. All 16 Democratic senators voted for Jochum to replace Wahls. What happened? Senator Wahls explained in an email received on June 12:

By now, many of you have seen the news that last week, my Democratic colleagues in the Iowa Senate chose a new caucus Leader, Senator Pam Jochum. After serving as Leader the past two-and-a-half years, I know how critically important this job is, not just for Iowa Democrats, but for all Iowans. Her success is vital to the wellbeing and betterment of our state, and I will continue working hard everyday to serve my constituents, help Leader Jochum and the Iowa Senate Democrats, and elect more Democrats in Iowa.

I am no longer Leader because I made the difficult decision to fire two longtime senate staffers who did not share my vision for change while restructuring our staff. My Senate Democratic colleagues disagreed with my decision. There is always a resistance to change and new ideas, and I stand by the decision because Iowa Democrats desperately need a new direction and leaders who will chart that course.

I chose to run for the Iowa Senate in 2018 because our state was heading in the wrong direction and we needed change. Since 2014, we have all watched Iowa Republican politicians strengthen their iron grip on our state, and we have all seen the damage the Republican agenda has wrought on our families and communities. Governor Reynolds and extreme Republicans in the legislature are hellbent on taking away our personal freedoms, defunding our public schools, and hollowing out the middle class. Our rural communities continue to lose population. Our young people are leaving Iowa for better opportunities in more welcoming states. Our political system is not working for Iowans.

As long as I have the opportunity to serve in elected office, I will continue to push for change and to fix the broken system that is failing our state. Iowans deserve a strong and forward-looking Democratic Party that is ready and willing to embrace the change necessary to halt the advance of Republican extremism. We must put change and progress ahead of comfort and the status quo.

So many people are discouraged about the direction of our state and the losses our party has sustained over the past decade, and if you are one of them, I want to speak directly to you. While they want us to give in to cynicism, we must refuse to accept that Iowa is lost forever. Our fight for liberty, justice, and shared prosperity is difficult. Our success will require honest reflection, an immense amount of hard work, and a deep commitment to change. And while change is always hard — Iowans are counting on us, and failure is not an option.

I hope you will join me in continuing the fight for a better future for everyone who calls Iowa home.

Onward. ZW

Email from Senator Zach Wahls, June 12, 2023.

The money quote is, “We must put change and progress ahead of comfort and the status quo.”

Erin Murphy reported in the Tuesday Cedar Rapids Gazette that Mike Gronstal, formerly a lobbyist for the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, lost his job because of his involvement in the Wahls matter. Gronstal was previously the Iowa Senate Majority Leader.

“The nature of Gronstal’s involvement in Senate Democrats’ leadership change was not detailed by the council or made public by Senate Democrats,” reported Murphy. “But the two longtime staffers who were fired had worked for Gronstal when he was majority leader.”

Senate Democrats may have said all they plan to about removing Wahls from leadership, yet the incident indicates an unwillingness to change that is disheartening for rank and file Democrats who haven’t given up hope in regaining a majority. I mean, the days of Mike Gronstal’s influence should have ended when he lost his re-election campaign in 2016. What are you telling us, Democrats?

Pam Jochum will make a fine minority leader, so that’s not the issue. Likewise, I can understand if the senators were upset by a staffing change that affects them all if it was unannounced or unexpected. There are ways to fire tenured people without a brouhaha. It seems unlikely we rank and file will ever know the full story. If that’s the ground floor for party rebuilding, then so be it.

I met with a group yesterday to talk about our new State Senate District. Our experienced and popular Democratic candidate lost his reelection bid in 2022. Some of the more connected people present for the meeting had ideas for a 2024 candidate. At this point, we don’t have one. The meeting itself was inconclusive about what we should do to defeat the Republicans who won in our Senate and House districts last cycle.

With a Republican trifecta since 2017, the majority party has used their power to make changes they want. I don’t believe they are close to being done. It has been clear Zach Wahls is competent since he was elected. What caused a majority of the Democratic Senate caucus to ouster him? We have a brief statement, yet we don’t have the whole story.

Butterflies, I understand. Politicians? Not as much. This thing is going to be a distraction for a while and I’m not talking about photographing caterpillars.

Categories
Kitchen Garden

Apples in Early June

Apples in early June.

They say if you bring something good to a potluck you’ll have to bring the same dish to every potluck from now on. I don’t make the rules.

When I attend a potluck, with or without my spouse, I take something we can both eat. Sometimes it is popular, yet mostly it is not. I overestimated the degree to which other people’s like for kale would match mine. I no longer take kale dishes. Whatever is not eaten goes into our rotation of leftovers. Live and let live. Life is good.

When the garden comes in, I make something for potluck with fresh ingredients, maybe potato salad. It is important to keep anything with eggs in it chilled. During apple harvest, some sort of baked apple dish is the norm, something like apple crisp. Thus far, my dishes haven’t been described as good very often, so I’m free to experiment. And I will.

In mid-June we have a good idea if there will be an apple crop and how big it may be. This year’s apples look to be plentiful. Typically, earliest apples go to sauce for fresh eating, and apple cider vinegar. Depending upon how they taste, I may make some apple butter with early apples. Mostly I wait until the September-October harvested ones for the main batches of canned sauce and butter. I also fill up the cider vinegar jars in the pantry. Each year I learn a bit more about processing the abundance when there is one.

The two newest apple trees are unpredictable. One has a couple of fruits forming, and the other has a lot. I can’t remember which is Zestar! and which is Crimson Crisp. Either would be welcome this year.

I toured the garden this morning and besides weeding, things look alright. There was not much caterpillar damage on the cruciferous vegetables. In the front yard, I saw a Monarch caterpillar and a milkweed bug having breakfast together. Late spring is a great time of year.

Categories
Kitchen Garden

Toward Summer

Zucchini plants.

There have been two points of catharsis this year: finishing winter writing and sending the draft of my autobiography to a few friends, and finishing initial garden planting last week. Heading toward summer, new things are on the horizon.

More than at any time during the year summer is an opportunity to take on long-standing projects. I expect there will be plenty to do, including cleaning and organizing the garage, landscaping the yard, and tending neglected home maintenance tasks. We spent a lot on home appliances in the last month, so there is no extra money to take a vacation. We haven’t taken a vacation since our child was in high school 20 years ago. There is no pressing need either.

Summer was the time for political activities such as walking in parades, barbecues and picnics, and listening to speeches. Our political activities have become separated from most of society and these old-time activities have become irrelevant to winning elections or much else. If I had a business, I’d enter a float in our local parade. Otherwise, I’ll avoid town the day of parades. There are no planned trips to the many parades, festivals and activities planned in our part of the state.

Each summer I debate reading The Great Gatsby, my favorite summer novel. Most years I re-read it, although that decision is not made for 2023. Since I set a daily goal of reading 25 pages, the question now is which book will go into the rotation next. I’m so familiar with Gatsby it is a one or two day read. If I missed this summer it would be no loss. There are plenty of other good books to read in my library.

The garden has been producing for about a month so cooking has changed with fresh vegetables. Greens are on the table almost every meal, and when tomatoes, peppers and cabbage come in, I’ll consult my personal recipe list and prepare some seasonal dishes.

Summer is about freezing, drying, and canning food from the garden. I need a dozen more quarts of vegetable broth and this will be the year to replenish the pantry with all things apple. Tomatoes are the other main canning item. I process them whole and in the form of sauce. It was a struggle to get tomatoes to take in the garden, yet they are growing now and there should be a good harvest. Canning alone will fill any voids in the schedule.

Before we realize it, summer will lead to autumn and harvest. It’s time to enjoy life while we can. Happy summer!

Categories
Living in Society

Unsettled in Big Grove

Collards and kale drying on the counter.

Like for many, news of the federal indictments handed down by a Florida grand jury in the stolen classified documents case involving the 45th president reached me at home. Republicans, with few exceptions, spoke with one voice, saying the Department of Justice had been weaponized to attack President Biden’s main competition in the 2024 presidential election. That’s not true, in fact it was the 45th president who attempted to weaponize DOJ when he was in office. Even the corrupt William Barr, attorney general at the time, wouldn’t go along with his president on his quest to punish his enemies. Biden? Don’t make me laugh.

Major news outlets like Gannett, The New York Times, FOX News, and others cultivate a cult of the ex-president. They do so because of the attention each inflammatory article, broadcast or post receives. Trump is bankable to news outlets so they nurture his presence. The diminished celebrity issued a vociferous denunciation of the indictments, as if the louder he spoke, the more authority his words carried. Major news outlets took the bait and gave him prominent coverage. The business of news can apparently be profitable only with bloated characters like Trump on stage.

Using a phrase learned from my basic training drill instructor, they are all pissing in the wind.

It’s the third paragraph of the indictment in United States of America v. Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta that bugs me. Here it is:

From military service, I am familiar with some of the intelligence collection methods mentioned. Compromising intelligence produced by covert operatives and agents could put their lives at risk, resulting in imprisonment or death. According to the indictment, Trump did that. What kind of person does that? A corrupt one with stolen, classified documents.

During my three years stationed as an infantry officer in West Germany I had access to classified materials. I remember getting a top secret clearance for a special project. My friends back in Iowa wrote letters saying they were contacted by investigators during the process. I got my clearance and participated in more than 25 military operations that used classified information. I didn’t retain a single document. When finished using classified documents, I returned them the the S-2, which is the battalion-level intelligence officer. It was important to follow the rules.

One of my buddies was fluent in German and Russian and spent time in East Berlin hanging out with Soviet forces stationed there. Most of his work was in bars and restaurants, and he filed information gleaned after each trip. It must have been pretty boring work. He told us about the volume of vodka Soviet troops drank and how it impacted their readiness. Even I collected intelligence from a French military unit in Brittany while I was stationed with them as an exchange officer. I filed my report with our S-2 and was done with it. In Cold War Europe troops seemed bored and drank alcohol and did drugs because of it. They were hardly ready for a major battle.

Native instinct tells me 45 won’t be convicted and if he is he won’t serve jail time. The rich seldom do. When I read the evidence presented in the indictment, I became unsettled. I understand why news outlets cover the story. What I can’t explain is why so many of my friends and neighbors voted for Trump in 2016 and would again if he were the Republican nominee for president in 2024.

One would think the indictment would teach us a lesson. Instead, a mythology of the corrupt has risen around Trump, accepting his illegal behavior, and impeding our ability to maintain a functioning democratic republic.

That is the bigger problem.

Categories
Writing

2023 Garden Is In

Cleaning radishes, herbs and kohlrabi.

In December I started seeds indoors, which led me to yesterday when I declared initial garden planting finished. There are some tasks remaining to be accomplished, when isn’t there in a home garden? The seven vegetable plots and six fruit trees are in production of food for our kitchen garden. There should be excess available to give to others, including donations to the local food bank. It took a lot more work to get this far this year.

Garlic was planted Oct. 15, 2022 and it suffered some issues because of the mulch I used to cover it over winter. Despite some failures, there will be plenty for another year. The main task in the garlic patch before July harvest is weeding. I harvested most of the scapes this week. Next to the garlic is a covered row that produced early greens, radishes, and herbs. There are new seedlings of bok choy and lettuce varieties ready to go into rotation.

The next plot was potatoes in containers, onions, leeks, spinach, snow peas and sugar snap peas. There were plenty of spring onions as I thinned the starts to proper spacing. The main difference this year is being able to weed the onions. It looks like a fine crop of onions is in production, both for storage and eating now. I also stuck last year’s chives, some kohlrabi, two fennel plants, dill and cilantro on the side of the onions. Everything is growing well and there has been no sign of the Colorado potato beetle.

I eliminated the narrow path between the two largest plots and fenced them together with one entrance. Half of this space is the main tomato crop and the rest an assortment of tomatillos, okra, summer squash, zucchini, green beans, fennel, kohlrabi, celery, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, cabbage, chard, kale, collards, onions I started from seed, and cucumbers. The greens in this plot were started later, so I haven’t harvested anything yet. There will be an abundance of cucumbers, squash, greens, and bell peppers if they produce.

There is a complete plot of cruciferous vegetables: five kinds of kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower and three kinds of cabbage. Putting these together helps manage the white butterflies that lay eggs on the leaves to produce little green worms. If one doesn’t stay on top of pest control, the crop will suffer. Thus far all the harvested greens look good.

One of the plots is situated under two oak trees grown from acorns. The shade protects squash plants, and this year I picked a variety of pumpkin, butternut squash, and acorn squash. I used a no till method and left last year’s ground fabric in place. The seedlings are thriving. So far, so good.

The last garden plot has hot peppers, eggplant, fennel, tomatoes and celery. There is a bit of space where I plan to plant five seedlings of two varieties of sweet peppers. I don’t usually mix sweet and hot peppers in the same plot, but the space is just right. It appears the peppers will take and there will be an abundance. My main interests here are Guajillo chilies for prepared pepper sauce for cooking, thin red hot peppers for red pepper flakes, and jalapeno and Serrano for eating fresh. Since I am the only connoisseur of hot peppers in our household, there should be plenty.

The three apple trees planted soon after we moved here are bearing fruit this year. The Red Delicious tree particularly has been well-beaten by wind storms and is amazing in its survival. The pear tree is bearing, as is one of the new apple trees planted next to the garden. If there is a good crop, the pantry needs more applesauce, a dozen pints of apple butter, and replenishment of the apple cider vinegar jars.

We started some flowers, which need transplant into the space in front of our house. We are just learning about growing flowers. I successfully started a stevia plant for indoors. I’m not sure how much it will produce, yet we are looking forward to making our own sweetener after this year’s experiment.

The main benefit of declaring the garden planted is the ability to turn to other work, including writing for this blog. There is a period from now until the garlic comes in to organize the garage for some projects.

The garden is ready. Now all we need is rain, weeding and pest management. We feel lucky to have the space for a big garden.

Categories
Writing

District of Tall Buildings

Davenport Hotel circa 1980. Photo Credit: National Park Service.

When a group of men gathered at the Rock Island home of George Davenport in 1835, they had a mind to purchase land and lay out a town on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. With native tribes removed, something needed to be done with the land, or so they believed. By any measure, the enterprise was a commercial venture in a relatively optimal, if arbitrary location. Its lackluster beginnings would haunt the city until I was born more than a century later.

In Spring 1836, Major William Gordon surveyed the place that would become the City of Davenport. He and his business partners, including George Davenport and Antoine LeClaire, offered a sale of lots to a party from Saint Louis who had been transported by steam boat to participate in a two-day auction. Sales were much less than expected. The sellers did not have clear title to the lots at the time of the sale and that likely contributed to poor sales.

There was never a question Davenport would be settled by non-natives. As original forests were clear cut upstream, and rafts of logs floated to river towns on the Eastern border of Iowa, there was money to be made. The lumber business was profitable, yet not sustainable. It was one more instance of profiteering in the city’s history.

The lumber business gave rise to the railroads. When the Davenport Hotel was constructed in 1907 it was situated equidistant between the two major rail stations in the city. “Erection of the Davenport Hotel inaugurated a period of building that would bring Davenport’s central business district fully into the era of the ‘tall buildings,'” according to the National Park Service website. Other tall buildings were built around it, including The Dempsey Hotel (1913), The Blackhawk Hotel (1915), The Davenport Bank and Trust Company Building (1927), and The Mississippi Hotel (1931).

Temple and Burroughs Architects created the Davenport Hotel building in the Renaissance Revival style. The structure was an important feature of the city’s commercial center. Located in Antoine LeClaire’s first subdivision of Davenport, one couldn’t get more center city. As commercial needs changed in downtown, some of the tall buildings were converted to housing. My maternal grandmother lived in government-subsidized housing in the Mississippi Hotel for many years.

The May 28, 2023 collapse of part of the Davenport Hotel building should be a wake-up call for city governments everywhere. The response of the City of Davenport has been as lackluster as the city’s founding. What seems obvious today is these tall buildings are getting old and literally falling apart.

At least there is political hay to be made in this national story. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just announced he will send a crew to Davenport to help in the recovery of the building collapse. Is it a coincidence he is also vying for position in the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses?

There may be dollars to be made from old building stock. City staff needs to energize and make sure none of the other tall buildings in the commercial district collapses while developers pursue the almighty dollar. History has shown, they are likely to nod their heads toward developers and let the action play out as it did last month. What a sorry way to run a city.

Categories
Home Life

Rain Broke the Dry Spell

2023 garlic scapes
Remaining 2022 garlic crop

Two days after a full moon, in pre-dawn darkness, it was difficult to see it rained yesterday. It hadn’t rained long, just enough to get the ground wet and start water flowing toward the ditch. It was not enough to seal cracks in the ground caused by a lack of moisture. The ditch near the road has hardly been used for runoff this spring. I hope the dry spell is broken.

After a hiatus, today I return to writing. Garden plot seven remains to be planted yet the hard work of putting in a garden is almost done. Already an abundance of vegetables was harvested even if my favorite hot peppers wait in the greenhouse to be planted.

At the point I realized our yard couldn’t produce enough grass clippings and leaves for garden mulch, and began laying down weed barrier to hold moisture and suppress weeds, everything changed. It was helped along by relenting to the need for fertilizer (composted chicken and turkey manure) and some pesticides used by my organic farming friends. Not everything improves with aging, yet my garden was made better by experience.

May was a month of stuff breaking. We scrambled to cover the expense of new appliances: washer, dryer, range, furnace, and air conditioner. We previously replaced the refrigerator, water heater, water softener, and our 2002 automobile. The new technology is clearly better. I can’t get over how quickly batches of water-bath canning jars come to temperature and boil. Our clothes get cleaner as well. All of this took time in May. We are over the hump, fingers crossed.

The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk created turbulence in my social media space. The main change is I notice more trolls. I know to block them without question, yet it is an annoyance. I tried Mastodon, Post, and Spoutible and none of them fills the same need as Twitter. Mastodon was too complicated with their decentralized server model. Spoutible and Post have a lot of nice people, yet the depth of relationship is lacking and may become an issue. The other legacy social media accounts (Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook) are doing what they do without issue.

There wasn’t a lot to write about in Iowa Politics this spring. Republicans in the legislature had super majorities and could and did pass what they wanted. The trouble for a political blog writer is getting a handle on the changes and creating an approach that makes sense while Democrats are in the minority. One would have thought logic and reason would be the path, yet no. Republicans now take legislative action based on tropes and whims from the great beyond. To use logic serves their misinformation purposes. Building a story board will require more effort than usual as we prepare for the 2024 and 2026 elections.

Lack of rain is concerning. The Midwestern garden relies upon a consistent amount of rainfall spaced at predictable intervals. As the atmosphere and our oceans warm, more moisture is stored in the atmosphere. Rainfall we were used to became the exception rather than something upon which gardeners can rely. It leaves us with the unpredictability of life. When the dry spell breaks, we can breathe easier, at least for a little while.

Categories
Living in Society

An Assembly

Stinocher Post #460 American Legion Color Guard on Memorial Day, 2023.

Members of our community gathered for events over the Memorial Day weekend. I did not know most of the people I encountered, yet felt a part of it. I did recognize most of the veterans in the American Legion color guard at Monday’s service.

We don’t neighbor the way we used to when I was coming up at the American Foursquare in Davenport. I remember getting to know everyone on our block, at least a little, when I was a grader. I had been inside most of the houses and apartments. It was hard to keep up with the several rentals, yet if someone owned their home, I knew who they were and a bit about their history. Geography was an important part of neighboring. It is less so today.

We gather in different ways in the 21st century. Our county Democratic party is trying to resuscitate the idea of “neighborhoods” in an effort to prepare for the 2024 and 2026 elections. Such geographical neighborhoods they describe don’t exist any more, especially in rural Iowa. In a place where automobile culture takes us to remote jobs and commercial enterprises, we are less rooted in the physical community. With increasing specialization of interests, there are fewer people who share them in our immediate locale. While rural folks may reflect the same humanity as anyone, the distance from population centers and their work, shopping, health care, and intellectual assets creates a divide unlikely to be breached.

By nature of our humanity we live in a place. How we socialize is unchained from restrictions of geography. That makes assumptions about how one canvasses and gets out the vote in a geography obsolete. That is, we need to invent a new way of locating and turning out voters. Thus far, if the string of Iowa Democratic losses is any indication, we’ve not proven to be much good at it.

Why do we gather in person? On Memorial Day, the reasons are clear, and each person has a role in a public ceremony. The difficulty I increasingly experience is separating from people by political party. The old methods of winning elections haven’t worked for a couple of cycles, and I’d rather spend time with people I know who don’t have the interest of Democrats. Age, status in life, volunteerism and others mean more than politics. The assumption that we associate only with people we resemble has not well served us. We need to let go of old ways and assemble under new, to be defined practices.

I don’t opine much about “society,” yet society will be better if we change our associations with others.

Categories
Environment

As Light Falls

Lake Macbride from the North Shore Trail, May 27, 2023

Morning light illuminated this peninsula on Lake Macbride during my walk. One never knows how a multi-function mobile device will capture a photograph. I’m pleased with the results of this one.

The hard part is breaking away from preoccupations on a trail walk, to be aware of our surroundings enough to notice how light falls on the landscape. The results can be liberating. If the image comes out well, it’s a bonus. Increasingly, I seek the light on excursions off property.

Five of seven garden plots are planted, meaning I am running behind. Reasons have to do with weather, and with the pace at which I work. A five or six-hour shift with breaks every hour is what I can muster. Progress is steady, yet slow. Gardening is a tolerant activity and whatever one can do is better than the alternative. I do what I can.

Already there is a harvest. Leafy green vegetables, lettuce, spring onions, radishes, and herbs. I mixed fresh greens with last year’s frozen ones to make spring vegetable broth for canning. It is time to use up the freezer to make room for the new harvest. Spring broth is always best so I noted the month on the lids.

I forgot potatoes at the wholesale store so I drove to town on Saturday. My neighbor, who owns the grocery store, was there and he thanked me for the San Marzano tomato seedlings I gave him. I had extra. The grocery store wasn’t busy. Organized locals got their Memorial Day weekend shopping done by Friday. We had a good chat about tomatoes, gardening, and people in the community. The value of the trip was no small potatoes, although I got some of those, too.

My spouse is at her sister’s home for the week, so I’m on my own. As I age, I dislike being alone. While freedom to cook how I like is a perquisite of her absence, meal preparation takes only a small part of each day.

Today is the annual firefighters breakfast in town and I plan to open it up then move on to garden and yard tasks before the ambient temperature gets too hot. If all goes well, I’ll mulch tomatoes (which means mowing the lawn), build a brush pile, and trim around the foundation of the home to prepare the spot for the new air conditioner.

The flags are up at Oakland Cemetery, signifying local veterans who died. The Memorial Day service moved to the new veterans memorial in town. I’ll stop by the cemetery on my way to breakfast and see how light falls on the graves and flags. I know many of the names. I was active with many of them when they were living. That, too is part of aging in America.

Flags at Oakland Cemetery
Categories
Writing

Toward Future Dishes

Maytag Range delivered to our kitchen on May 22, 2023.

We replaced the Kenmore range purchased in 1988 with this new Maytag model. Technicians from the small appliance dealer did a good job delivering, installing, and explaining it. More than once they referred me to manuals dropped on the counter. Although it will take time to understand the features of the range, I will attempt to live up to the promise this technology offers. I expect to prepare many future dishes using the device. The inaugural meal was black beans and rice.

A future is not always assured. I took a spell while tending the covered row of herbs and vegetables, then made a retreat indoors. I have had two conversations about such episodes with my medical practitioner. He said if they were infrequent and do not persist, there was little to be done about them. Easy for him to say. Most days spells recede behind the proscenium arch where the curtain is down more than up on my aging frame. From time to time, spells appear as players to complicate life. We are in act one of what can be expected to be five. Here’s hoping I live to denouement and a final, dignified curtain call and bow.

This is the longest I have been away from posting since I can remember. My spouse will be spending a week with her sister who is moving from a rental to a house in July. There is a lot of packing to be done. While she’s gone, I hope to finish planting the garden, organize for summer, and begin regular writing again. I hope to be done with the intense rasher of friends who died this year. Appliances died in equal numbers, yet it is not the same.

I miss my friends, appliances not so much. Appliance transitions brought discussion with banks, business owners, sales folks, delivery drivers, and technicians. It is a way to go on living whereas my dead friends and family offer little engagement for the future except in memory. As we age, we do the best we can.

On the way home from the grocer I stopped for gasoline. After fueling, I pretended I was in Thomasville, Georgia again and bought a Yoo-hoo chocolate drink and lottery ticket at the gas station. Playing the long game, I bought a Powerball ticket instead of a scratch-off. If we can’t see a future beyond the now, then we will never live a long one. Validating the statistics of lotteries, my ticket was not a winner in Monday night’s drawing. At least we have the new range and the prospect of delicious meals.