The near-death experience that was my case of COVID-19, especially the hallucinations and becoming temporarily unhinged from reality, was a wake up call. Life can be snatched from us on a moment’s notice. I lived to tell the tale, and every day I wake in good health is a blessing.
What will I do with my remaining time? That is the wrong question. I will continue down the path I started so many years ago: to be a writer, to live a life where I enjoy good health, and where I have the stamina needed to take each next step. My relationships with family and friends are important, so is living in a just society. There is a whole separate life in this. I hope to embrace and cherish it.
The coronavirus upset my schedule to get back to work on the second part of my memoir. Once I get caught up in real life, I will take up that project. Publishing the first volume was an unexpectedly positive experience. Now I want to finish the second book so I can move on to other things.
Friedrich Nietzsche first said, “Out of life’s school of war — what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” I’m not at the stronger part yet, although I’m building stamina as I walk the long path into the future.
When I arrived in Paris in September 1974, the place was emptied of most of its people. I did not understand the cultural phenomenon of millions of French people flocking to the coast, countryside, and other vacation destinations, leaving urban areas almost deserted. A few shops were open in Paris that summer, although not many. Traditionally les grandes vacances happen in August, yet people were gone into the first week of September that year.
With my book at the printer, I’ve been taking an August hiatus from work on the second part of my memoir. Life goes on and for me there is no vacation. That’s mostly because there is no extra money to pay for lodging, meals and travel excursions. Vacationing is anathema to my current personality anyway. There are few destinations to which I am drawn these days.
Like the weekends during my trip to Brittany, les grandes vacances form part of my outlook while I spend more time in our Midwestern kitchen processing garden produce. August is about tomatoes, apples, leafy green vegetables and such. There are a few cucumbers and squash left in the refrigerator to be used. It’s not a bad tradeoff with traveling to the mountains or some such.
Four candidates for the Democratic nomination to be county auditor. (l to r) Neuman Abuissa, Shannon Patrick, Alex Stanton, and Julie Persons. Persons won on the first round of voting.
Saturday was the special convention to elect a nominee for Johnson County Auditor. Mayor of Swisher Julie Persons won on the first ballot. I know Julie from her involvement in the House District 91 campaign and believe she will make a good county auditor. In fact, all four of those running were qualified.
What I like most about the convention is the chance to talk to people I seldom see any more. In August 2024, there are way fewer of my cohort involved with county politics. Between deaths, retirements, and people moving away, I am becoming a survivor. If there were more interest in county politics in my precinct, I would have stepped down long ago.
I sat with a friend who recently published their memoir and is awaiting publication of another book. We talked about books and topics we choose to write about. They were an early reader of my memoir and we’ve done a lot together since we met in 2005.
Of course there were my local buddies. We are getting too old for this stuff, yet the fact is few younger people are willing to step up. We do what we want with regard to politics, hoping to advance Democratic causes and elect our candidates.
I commented to someone I watched more television last week than I have in the last ten years. It just felt right to have the Democratic National Convention on in the background. It seems good that Kamala Harris got the nomination and there are only 72 days left until the election. The excitement of a younger, energetic presidential candidate can be sustained that long without breaking pace. I plan to do two or three things daily related to the campaign. Before we know it, election day will be here.
In the meanwhile, there is kitchen and garden work to do today. Not before I take a long walk on the state park trail and consider the wonder that is August.
On Friday I put the cost of printing 25 copies of my memoir on my credit card and uploaded my manuscript and photo. My team contact said it will take about eight days to get the copyright and printing will follow soon thereafter. The cost included copyright, International Standard Book Number and Library of Congress registration. Things moved very quickly from the time I contacted Prime Publishing online. I was ready.
I know one other author who used Prime to make his books and he was very satisfied. In my case, I am publishing privately with no plan for commercial sales. The cost is much less than taking it to a local print shop.
So that’s that.
I need to organize my files for storage. After Labor Day, I pick up work on the second volume. I had 65,000 words written when I left part two to finish part one. It needs a better outline and eventually a re-write. Publishing the first volume is a turning point. I’m closing the door on that part of my life. It already feels different.
On Wednesday I finished formatting part one of my autobiography for printing. The story ends with finishing my education as I turned 30 years old. Not all of my education was formal schooling by design. I accumulated many experiences in diverse social settings, including work, military service, and travel. With formatting done, I must go through the entire document one last time for content, spelling and language. Whatever deficiencies in the story must be addressed, although I think I’m there before I begin. The process of printing the book is a matter of a couple weeks, so meeting my end of year deadline should be doable.
On Thursday my hand held device died. While reading an email it went into a continuous loop of reboot, failing to restart each time. I figured out how to turn it off manually. I set the device aside for 30 minutes and tried again. I got a message there was a problem with the software. Because of the way it failed, I lost all my saved text messages, most of my files stored on the device, and most of my contacts. Like it or not, I’m getting a fresh start. As I told the technician at the phone store, “I’m ready to walk away from it.”
August 9 is a day for personal remembrance. It is the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. That bombing was not necessary to end World War II, and arguably, neither was the Hiroshima bombing. There were needless lives lost in Nagasaki.
Today is also the day Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency, having announced it on national television the previous evening.
Richard Nixon announced his resignation from the presidency on Aug. 8, 1974. I had no idea who Gerald Ford was, or what kind of leader he would be. The next day he said, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”
I felt a strong sense of social responsibility and the moral outrage of youth in what I believed were the deception and lies of a man in whom the country had put its trust. Hearing Nixon’s address that night, in our small apartment, was catharsis. I remember this feeling as I typed here in Big Grove Township tonight. I was relieved that Nixon was leaving. More importantly, I felt that the many protests and demonstrations during the Vietnam war had finally borne fruit. Direct action to support a just cause could accomplish things, even force out a sitting president. It was a heady feeling.
Even with many experiences by the time I reached age 22, it was that moment of seeing Nixon resign on television that opened the possibilities of the world. I became aware that direct action, in concert with others I did not know, could engender change in society. I also learned that the people, places, and things we read about can be grounded in a reality that is not that distant from where we live. We are connected to each other in unlikely ways.
I refused to purchase a copy of Nixon’s memoirs until after his death. I did not want him to benefit from my interest in his presidency. In a way, Richard Nixon, with his deceit, arrogance, and imperial presidency, contributed to my political awakening. This led me to understand what I had studied in school was grounded. It was an unlikely connection for which, in retrospect, I am thankful. I wasn’t sure what would be next yet felt that I could take a couple of months and find out what else was in the world. (An Iowa Life, The Memoir of Paul Deaton, unpublished).
Now that part one of the memoir is finished, I look forward to finishing the rest. It is work to be taken up once harvest is finished.
July was a tough month in so many ways. Yes, I’m still on that. What was supposed to be an escape from the digital world turned into a constant search to understand what was happening and then write about it for the blogs. I’m taking a couple days off after this one. If that’s possible.
Couple of thoughts:
If you can’t feel the excitement behind the Kamala Harris campaign for president, you may be an igneous rock. A constant meme in the Obama campaign was “Fired up. Ready to go!” The Harris crowd won’t need, doesn’t have time for memes. The energy is infectious. It is less that 100 days until the election, so let’s stick to fundamentals and go elect her!
The vice presidential pick is imminent since the campaign announced they would make a joint appearance in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, August 6. Whoever she picks is fine with me. I have my faves yet they don’t matter in this calculation.
Did not know Trump would do us a solid by selecting J.D. Vance as his vice presidential pick. Based on his book, I’m not even sure Vance’s mother liked him. He is the product of an ivy league education and campaign contributions from the likes of Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and the crypto currency crowd. It seems like there is nothing behind the mask, and that should benefit Harris. Factoid: Vance is Pence with the first two letters changed.
The rain in Big Grove has been abundant. I watered the garden one time since July 1. Even though two plots lay fallow, the rain is boosting yield in an amazing way.
Importantly, my spouse has returned to the Grove from helping her sister all of July. It is good to be reunited.
With constant rain, it’s been difficult to mow the yard. In the tall grass there are depressions that appear to be nesting or sleeping spots for deer. Providing habitat is more important that manicuring a lawn. That’s who I’ve become and I’m good with it.
Time to do some self care and get ready for the sprint to finish. Will need all the energy and creativeness I can muster. So, shall we all.
It’s time to take a break from writing. For a while, I must explore my daily life, my environs, and enjoy them. I may sit for spells in my chair, or out in the yard, and just breathe.
Thanks so much to everyone who reads my posts. It means a lot to have people return for visits, especially if we have not met. I receive fewer views here than when I wrote for newspapers, yet the positive side is I can visit your sites and see what you are writing and doing. That is a gift.
Enjoy the rest of June. Will I return in July? I’m not sure. I looked up my life expectancy on the Social Security web site. Based on that calculation, I have 14 more summers to enjoy. Beginning now, I plan to make the most of each one of them. That begins with long walks to feel the sun’s warmth on my skin and a summer breeze on my face: ambition enough for now.
Hope to see you again on the flip side.
UPDATE: I’ll be covering vacations and such in July at Blog for Iowa, I’ll cross post that writing here.
Tomato plot is planted and fenced on June 21, 2024.
Using the rough reckoning of my life, I am about three weeks behind in the garden this summer. I did finish the tomato plot Friday, and while there are a couple items left in the greenhouse, planting can be called done. I picked the first zucchini, and cucumbers won’t be far behind. As mentioned previously, two plots will remain fallow this year. As soon as I clear the greenhouse, I’ll put it into storage and focus on other yard work besides gardening. It has been something of a slog to bring the garden in.
Trail walk conversation
Sometimes I meet someone with whom I have a long history on the state park trail, as I did this week. The conversation covered these topics: The rain/hot temperatures were good for the garden, tomatoes especially. How the Iowa political climate changed since 1993 when I moved here. Prospects for Christina Bohannan, candidate for U.S. Congress, and for our state senate candidate Ed Chabal, and house candidate Jay Gorsh. How did education fall from its pedestal in Iowa? No answers. Need for septuagenarians to get out of the heat and humidity. It’s not the heat but the humidity.
Hand cramps and tomato patch.
Friday was a big day in the garden. Mainly, I finished putting in the tomato plot. That involved laying the rest of the ground cover, attaching the outside row tomato cages to their stakes, and installing deer fence around the rows. After an unsuccessful experiment in growing tomatoes last year, I returned to the method I had previously developed. It took about four hours to get that done. I cooled down and then took a nap. When I woke, both hands and my right leg cramped, causing some pain. I worked through it, yet I don’t recall that kind of work creating such cramping before. By the next morning cramping subsided.
Saturday was a lost day
On Saturday I drove to Williamsburg for a political meeting at 8 a.m., went grocery shopping for the soon to be arriving house guests, lay down, and slept a solid several hours. I ended up skipping dinner and went back to bed, having a more normal night’s sleep. Missing days like that is not the best. I finally feel rested, yet I’ll never get the day back.
This week I felt moments of creativity coupled with moments of physical exhaustion. It was not the worst of weeks. It was a time of pushing my limits and acknowledging they exist. Something as the male of the species I am not enthusiastic about doing.
This week was one of existential errands: meeting a technician at home for washing machine repairs, getting the automobile oil changed, a planning meeting for our upcoming high school class reunion, grocery shopping at the wholesale club, and chauffeuring my spouse to an appointment. It is the stuff that keeps our operation going.
I spent time in the garden to finish the tomato patch. There are squash and cucumber blossoms in rows I planted. What I managed to plant seems to be taking as expected. Nothing very exciting happened this week in the garden or elsewhere in my life.
Working with My Cohort
Two meetings remain for the planning committee of our 50th-ish high school class reunion. The six people on our regular video call are no-malarkey do-gooders committed to bringing this thing in on time and on budget. I’ve known them all since high school which ended in 1970. Our long, if intermittent acquaintance makes working together easy and enjoyable. Among the topics I raised:
Polish fathers of the bride counting dinner plates and instructing reception attendees to use the same plate for seconds.
The craziness of feeding 78 billion farm animals but not being able to feed 7.8 billion humans.
Explaining how vegetarians seek to be identified as people versus adherents to a cult.
Part of aging in America is sorting these things out. Then you just have to tell someone!
The reunion happens in a month.
Gardening Reached Apogee
This year I couldn’t get caught up with the garden. A few days remain before summer begins, and at least two plots will lie fallow this year. That’s not all bad, yet I envision a future with a much smaller garden. It’s complicated, yet it’s not. We simply don’t eat as much food as I can grow. I made a very large plot by combining two of the older plots. It has been impossible to keep critters who enjoy the garden as much as I do out of that growing space.
Once I clear out the greenhouse, I will prepare the two plots to lie fallow the rest of this year. Last year’s garden is likely as good as it gets and an apogee in the arc of a gardener’s life.
Quick Bean Soup
I made a “quick bean” soup for dinner of all organic ingredients. That means I used canned beans — a prepared 3-bean mix plus canellini — medium dice of carrot, celery and Vidalia onion, bay leaf, Herbes de Provence, salt, and sliced pac choi, stem and all. For liquid I used home made vegetable broth. When the vegetables were tender, I blitzed about a third with a stick blender, stirred, and there was supper.
I’ve been feeling kind of punk the last few days. My blood pressure has been elevated above normal and I’m having trouble sleeping. I spent much of Saturday in bed. I’m reading Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario which is likely contributing to difficulties in sleeping. I have been free of headaches, chest pain and difficulty breathing, so I’ll ride it out for a few more days and hope for the best. If I didn’t take my blood pressure at home, I may not have noticed anything different. Information can be both a blessing and a curse. (Update: My blood pressure returned to normal range by Monday morning. The spell passed).
What will we humans do when we’ve found everything we once lost? If Sir John Franklin’s 1845 voyage of HMS Erebus and Terror to find a Northwest Passage is an indication, we will continue singing the same songs events raised up, even as more of the actual history becomes known. Lord Franklin is a classic folk song and hard to release from repertories. John Renbourn discussed new discoveries about the fate of Franklin’s crew found in 2014 and 2016. He said it ruined the song forever. When he sings it, Renbourn does not change the lyrics. Click here to hear the whole story and listen to his version of Lord Franklin.
Enter the June 9, 2024 discovery by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society of the last vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton found in the Labrador Sea. The wreck of Quest lay upright and intact on the seabed at a depth of 390 meters. Rediscovery occurred this week and next steps, I feel certain, will be forthcoming.
My point is we are going to run out of historical artifacts to find. What then?
As the Bill Anders photograph from Apollo 8 confirms, Earth is a finite place. Humans are polluting our air, water, and land at an unprecedented pace. The population of humans is growing. What we haven’t found is a way to live without dire consequences for our planet and the people and other wildlife who inhabit it. Isn’t it time we made that discovery?
I managed to get outdoors and garden every day this week. The cruciferous vegetable patch is coming along. One row of cabbage and I’m calling it done. I plan to sprinkle cayenne pepper around the plants to deter animals from nibbling on the tender shoots. That and some Dipel®, which contains a naturally-occurring bacterium found in soil and plants, and I should be good. This is the latest in the season I planted brassicas. Luckily I’ve been cooking with over-wintered collards, this spring’s pac choi and tatsoi, and frozen leafy green vegetables from last year. It has been good to get into the garden.
Writing – Prep for Printing
I created a new file of part one of my autobiography for publication formatting and began work. It takes a lot to make it suitable for printing: font selection, margins, chapter setup, line spacing, ISBN, and maybe a copyright. I researched printing prices for a self-published book and I should be able to get 25 copies for a few hundred dollars. This book was never intended for trade publication.
150 Days Until the Election
We are less than 150 days until the Nov. 5 general election. I offered my political help to my state representative and senate candidates. We’ll see how they take me up on it. Both are first time candidates, so I’m not sure my 60 years experience on political campaigns will be relevant to them. The races will be tough. As long as I can work something out with the campaigns, that is how I’ll spend my political time this cycle.
On the State Park Trail
Six of the last seven days I walked 30 minutes on the state park trail. Everything is greening up. White flowers appeared and can be found everywhere. This transitional time — before everything gets eaten by bugs, or trampled by wildlife — is a favorite. There have been plenty of photo opportunities. The day I did not walk was a long, sweaty one in the garden.
Israel Is Using AI Targeting
An increasing number of news stories assert the Israel Defense Forces have been using artificial intelligence-enabled decision-support systems (AI-DSS) to target and kill Hamas operatives. All is fair in love and war, they say. Or is it? What if I told you AI finds Hamas targets most frequently at home with family. As bombs fly, they take out non-combatant women and children along with Hamas operatives. Shouldn’t that be a war crime?
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point hosts the Lieber Institute. “In today’s complicated battle spaces, the continued effectiveness and enforceability of the law is highly dependent on whether the expressed rules remain definitive, understood, and accepted,” it says on their website. “Yet contentious topics highlight a troubling lack of unanimity in the international community concerning the law.” Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has used unconventional tactics to achieve battlefield superiority. While they have been innovative, any targeting method that indiscriminately includes women and children is morally bankrupt. Let’s hope the peace plan I mentioned last week takes root.
Summer begins in 11 days. Hopefully the main garden planting will be done by then and I can focus on weed maintenance, harvest, and the rest of my household projects.
Journey Home 
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