Everything is totally normal.

Posted on August 17, 2020 by A Dreamer

I mean, it’s very healthy and such to be having dreams about getting in fights with government agents who are stealing mailboxes, right?

Gotta say, my administration/pandemic/GOP related anger/depression/anxiety has reached new highs, which I didn’t think possible, but it is on brand for 2020. I mean, how can the R’s not care that the USPS fuckery is *literally* killing people? So many insurance companies require using mail order pharmacies, and folks aren’t getting their meds and WHY DON’T THEY CARE?

I mean, I get they’re all about getting and keeping power, but jesus, you’d think there would be a line somewhere, like, I don’t know, their constituents dying from lack of medications. How are they not just a little bit bothered by it?

How do you deal with a party that doesn’t even concern itself with the basics like keeping folks alive? Other than burn it to the ground and salt the earth in November – I’ve got nothing.

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Well, I guess it’s not *bad* news

Posted on August 16, 2020 by A Dreamer

The house has moved up the hearing with DeJoy to August 24th rather than mid-September.

So, my voicemail to Gerry Connolly was a little less angry than it would have been, though I did say that the 24th still isn’t soon enough, but not much else I can do.

My message to Mark Warner wasn’t quite as kind as I told him he needs to get McConnell to reconvene the Senate and they need to get their asses back to work because yet ANOTHER recess in the middle of a pandemic, plus the election fuckery is just unacceptable.

And Tim Kaine? His office doesn’t even have voicemail? WTF? They’re gonna hear about that on top of everything else tomorrow.

I don’t mind participating in government. Hell, I’m on a first name basis with my state delegate. (Starbucks office hours FTW. Can’t wait to be able to do that again.)

I do mind having to tell my reps in Congress to just DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS. Statements of concern do nothing, I want to see them DO THEIR DAMN JOBS.

Ugh.

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Happy International Lily Appreciation Day!!

Posted on August 16, 2020 by A Dreamer

You may not have it on your calendar, but that’s OK, you know now. Apparently this time last year, for reasons he does not remember, my brother informed the cat that the 3rd Sunday in August is International Lily Appreciation Day. And – we both put it in our calendars, LOL, and this year we’re going, “What the hell prompted this?”

But hey, I’m not going to pass up an official day to spoil this cat. Got her some Fancy Feast treats (the tuna with scallops – I thought it would have bits of scallop, NO – it has a whole damn little scallop in it) and I’ve moved her couch pillow in front of the space heater, and she thinks that is AWESOME. (Thank god it’s grey and cool today.)

She’s certainly enjoying the day so far. I can’t get a good shot of her right now, but this is from the other day:

Lily, a black and orange tortoiseshell cat, snoozing on the bed

Oh, to not have a care in the world

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PPE, but FASHION!

Posted on August 15, 2020 by A Dreamer

Because I have no impulse control, over the past few months, I’ve acquired quite the collection of masks from Vera Bradley and now I pretty much can match a mask to any t-shirt I own. Granted, most of my t-shirts are grey or black, so it’s not that hard, but today was gleefully ridiculous.

My shirt is coral with blue mermaids on it, my mask is blue that matches the mermaids, and has white seahorses on it, so not only is it color coordinated, but we are even keeping with the sea life theme!!

Yes, it’s absurd, but you’ve got to find a few silly things in these times.

Hit the farmers market again this week, and yes, they’re counting people as they come in, and everyone is masked up and staying 6 feet apart, but it’s such a gloriously *normal* thing to do on a Saturday morning.

One of the vendors had variety pints of heirloom cherry tomatoes, and they are gorgeous – look like little jewels to me. Also snagged some apples, candied nuts, pumpkin bread & raspberries.

I realized too late that the raspberries are kinda overripe already, so they’re in the freezer now and will be a delightful addition to my lemonade iced tea.

A plate of heirloom cherry tomatoes - red, orange, yellow and purple

So pretty!

Continuing with some ridiculous things this morning – I present Lily:

Lily, a black and orange tortoiseshell cat, peeking out from under a blanket.

What??

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Sigh.

Posted on August 14, 2020 by A Dreamer

This was supposed to be the long weekend where I watched the Padres play the Nationals FOUR times in a row. Obviously, that’s not happening. (Also, still waiting on that refund, Nats.) Still taking a shorter long weekend off work, cause what else am I going to do with my PTO?

In the big scheme of things, with all the pain and loss we’ve had so far, losing a couple baseball games is nothing, but it still sucks.

But, I’m going to make the best of my day off and hit up our local Mexican/Salvadoran spot and get some pupusas and their awesome steak quesadillas for lunch.

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Today I learned

Posted on August 13, 2020 by A Dreamer

That when the power goes out for an extended period of time, while the fancypants thermostat for the heat/AC does come back on with the power – it resets everything to the factory defaults, and is in OFF mode. (Seems yesterday was the first power outage since we got it.)

I discovered this when I came downstairs this morning and it seemed really warm – 81º at 7AM! After a few moments of slight panic, I realized that the AC was not broken, just not turned *on*. How I did not notice this at all yesterday is beyond me. But the air is moving and being cooled again, whew.

Now, the question is: Will I remember this the next time the power goes out? Given that it’s pouring buckets right now and they’re calling for “strong thunderstorms” for the rest of the morning, it may be sooner than I’d care to worry about.

In election 2020 stuff – so, it’s gonna be Kamala Harris for VP. Though my dream ticket was Warren/Castro, I can deal with this. I know it’s a blow to prison abolitionists, and sure, I wish she was more progressive (I think “progressive prosecutor” is a bit of an oxymoron) but I think it will be OK.

She and Biden aren’t evil. They’ll surround themselves with people who are smart, also not evil, and willing to disagree with them. I also think that Kamala will call out Joe when needed – and that he will listen.

And if we flip the Senate and get some progressive folks in there – well, that will certainly shove them a bit farther left, cause if we have learned anything this past 3 years, it’s that Congress matters and I think things would have been slightly less shit if we’d not had the GOP in the Senate being sycophantic obstructionist asshats.

We just have to survive til November and bury the GOP in a landslide.

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A bleary eyed happy hump day

Posted on August 12, 2020 by A Dreamer

We had hella storms come through starting at fuck all 4 am this morning, lost power for about an hour (thank you Dominion Power for getting that turned around right quick) and someone did not get back to sleep at all during that time.

But, I have a bigassed cold brew, cause I had to run to the market and our Starbucks is open again. When I said I was glad they were back and not closed permanently, the response was, “Oh, we just had a staffing problem!” – so that’s what we’re calling it nowadays. (Which, it’s not like they can say “the crew popped positive, so I get it.)

In Bad Cat Mom news, the reason I had to run into the market is because I ran out of Lily’s current VERY FAVORITE TREAT – Fancy Feast “Broths” – basically a little soup packet with broth, veg and some actual identifiable meat in it. Given her love for it, it’s probably the cat equivalent of junk food, but oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth last night as I told her I messed up and we ran out. Between that and the storms, she’s had quite the traumatic 12 hours.

Me? I’m just going to try not to fall asleep sitting up this morning.

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Dear Russian folks

Posted on August 11, 2020 by A Dreamer

Sorry you’re going to be treated as guinea pigs in the vaccine race.

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I mean, shit, maybe it will work and not hurt folks and all will be OK – but I wouldn’t feel the slightest bit comfortable getting that jab.

In very adorable news, I’ve been following the arrival of Sport Pepper Kitten at the Bitches the Cat house over on Twitter. A slew of cute.

It prompted my brain to go a bit nuts and I had a dream where the late great Carmen kitty returned – with three kittens in tow. Given that she was spayed, we realized she had stolen the kittens from somewhere – on brand for her.

And now I’ve seen something so, SO American just now on TV – Shamwow is selling face masks. I don’t know why that struck me as hilarious, but it did.

Welp, time to go grind those gears of capitalism. Have a safe day.

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Another day

Posted on August 10, 2020 by A Dreamer

Another call to Congress. This USPS fuckery…

Now I’m starting to think I’d be better off doing absentee-in-person, cause I’m not really sure I’ll *get* my ballot in the first place with the talk circulating of telling the USPS to just not deliver ballots in the first place.

I can apply for absentee now, but they won’t mail the ballots until 45 days before the election – which in normal times would be more than enough time for it to get here. Now? Who knows if it will arrive at all, much less in time.

I’m very angry that this fucker in the White House is going to make me risk my health and the health of others just to get him out of office. Shit, I’ll don a full hazmat suit if I have to – BUT I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO.

Connolly’s office is going to get an earful this morning.

I swear, we need to burn the GOP to the ground and salt the earth. They weren’t great before the last 4 years, but my god, the utter disregard for human life in the pursuit of power is just horrific to put it mildly. We’ve put up with it for far too long and it’s time to relegate them to the dustbin of history.

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Mmm, tomatoes

Posted on August 8, 2020 by A Dreamer

Got to the farmers market again today – tomatoes! sweet peppers! apples! baklava! savory pies!

The baklava & pies are from Baku Delicious, which specializes in Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Russian delights. I felt that having to compete with the bees for the baklava was a good sign – and I was right, it’s very yummy! (Breakfast of champions here.)

In “oh no!” news, my Starbucks is “temporarily” closed, after slashing their hours last week.

Ohhhhh – NextDoor informs me that the morning crew popped positive on tests. :( Which would explain the cut hours (waiting for results?) and then just a total shutdown for a bit. That sucks for everybody, all the folks that work there are just great and seemed to be happy to be open again and doing something semi-normal. I so hope they’re all OK.

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