Ambergris

I have a puppy. He's ten weeks old. His mama is pretty much a redbone hound, and his papa must be something with a thick coat of curly black hair and maybe a white face and chest star. He's going to be a reasonably good size for a guard dog. The landlord gave him to me today. He has some respect for chickens, but needs to learn not to mess with them at all. Pics to come after daylight.

New batch of corn bread in the rice cooker now. Black eyed peas (also made in the rice cooker, on a day when I was mostly not home) in the fridge.

Letting go can make you feel so free. Yes, you will think back later on about how much you could use that item right now, but...you will make do.

...four locally acquired cases of Plasmodium vivax malaria in Sarasota County, FL and one case in Cameron County, TX. There is no evidence to suggest that the cases in the two states are related. All patients were promptly treated at area hospitals and are recovering. Most malaria cases diagnosed in the United States are imported, usually by persons who travel to countries where malaria is endemic. However, locally acquired mosquito-transmitted malaria cases can occur, as Anopheles mosquito vectors exist throughout the United States. In 2003 there were 8 cases of locally acquired P. vivax malaria identified in Palm Beach County, FL.

I first heard of derechos on this site, about ten years ago. Have barely ever heard the word anywhere else. The photo of corn I saw on Facebook (flat, as far as the eye could see) said straight wind but not derecho. I knew it was a derecho from learning about them here.

Chicago gets the brunt of everything, doesn't it? Heat, cold, windstorms, creeping ice, earthquakes, now smoke? A young man here wants to go to Chicago to work. I was trying to describe it as the city of big shoulders, city on the edge of the prairie, windy city, third coast/great lakes city, and so on. They'd heard of the great lake "every picture has the water in it." Eventually I figured out I was saying the city of big hungers (hambres) instead of big shoulders (hombros), and corrected it to city of big female livestock (hembras) before grabbing my shoulders and asking "what are these?" All in all, though, I don't think I was wrong with any of those.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed four locally acquired cases of malaria in Florida and one in Texas, marking the first time in 20 years that the potentially fatal disease has been contracted from mosquitoes in the U.S. - For the first time in 20 years, the US has detected multiple cases of malaria in Florida and Texas. What's interesting is that the cases were locally acquired, meaning the five people who were infected got it from local mosquitoes, not from traveling abroad. The disease has claimed over 691,000 deaths in 2021 with most of the cases occurring in Africa. Luckily, it's not contagious between humans, so it can't be spread like a cold. But the CDC recommends everyone avoid getting bit by a mosquito by wearing loose fitting clothes and using insect repellents that contain these ingredients. You should know that DEET isn't recommended for children under two months old, and lemon eucalyptus oil isn't recommended for children under three.

The reason those bank robbers were folk heroes is because a lot of them burned mortgages when they went into banks. Insurance companies are for-profit corporations. So are banks. They are not there to help you.

Ask BOA if they need the help of the Banking Commission to find your check?

Writing, or rather tweaking things already written. Texted a call for a taxi to take me to my class this afternoon, but that was half an hour ago and the message has not yet been received. Internet has been off and on, for a couple or a few hours at a time, and cell phones that use internet have been crazy unreliable for the past two weeks. Businesses are suffering, and people are speculating in increasingly colorful ways. The wind is often blamed, too. I need to set the yogurt tonight. update: took message 49 minutes to get delivered. This is why I sent it two hours ahead of when I needed the ride.

I love it

I went raspberry picking today

https://tornadopaths.engin.umich.edu/

Woke up chilly, rainy day. Snuggled in with the cats, knowing I had no place to be and nothing to do except feed critters today. This is kind of nice, once in a while.

When my house burned, I was out of it for eleven months, if I recall correctly. Such madness. I keep wondering if things would have gone differently with the husband and his drinking, and with the boys and their problems, but for all that. That's why I said to get a lawyer first off. The insurance companies exist for reasons other than helping you.

From a friend on Facebook

I have black eyed peas on the stove, my first try at dried peas at this elevation (6000 feet). I'm using a traditional clay pot I bought from a women's pottery co-op northwest of here. Don't plan to start the cornbread for a good long while, but they already smell good. They soaked all day yesterday and all night.

Sigh. The cats continue their pattern of one disappearing when the other turns up. For a couple of days, the little cat was staying in the barn, in a stall where we'd piled all the boxes from the move. Problem is, she's not come out for food or to get pettings for three days now, as far as I can tell. I've been leaving a door open for her, and a window open for her, when I'm home in the daylight, but the house is shut up tight when I'm not home and most of the time after dark. Which has been most of the past three days. I saw her through the screen window of the barn day before yesterday, but I have been in that stall in and out all morning (five hours) and neither seen nor smelled any sign of her. I have opened cans of food today and yesterday, with no response. She's not that interested in canned food, but she does like to lick the fluid off it, and she is a pig for affection. I know she doesn't like being shut up in the house, but I really just don's see how she would choose to become a full-time barn cat instead.

Can also eat trombocino green as summer squash. You can do that with most winter squash, but trombocino is bred for it.

Exercise day. Made coffee, did a minimal online Spanish lesson, began packing bag for trip to Vilcabamba today, realized I hadn't seen my little wallet with my cards since the Amazon trip, and went searching for it. Long/short, did not find it. Housekeeper who was giving me a ride to Vilca arrived and helped look--nothing. Got to Vilca a little late but things slowed down there and used cash for my breakfast, for a new purse, and for more printer paper. PM and I split up, with her spending the bulk of the day keeping company with a gentleman who just lost his wife and is planning her service while I shopped and then went to her house to crash until my exercise class (also at her house). Figured out half an hour before class that I had left my exercise class bag at the house, so I texted the instructor in time for her to bring hers. After class visited more with PM, who is not doing well, came home, had supper, and found my wallet the second place I looked. My old cat needed two tries to jump up onto the couch next to me. This bore home that he might be quite old. I don't know how old he was when I got him, but he's been with me 13 years now.

I bought a new laser printer (good for text printing) on Thursday, and today I put it to work. I printed out a pile of lines, notes, and ideas for poems, along with some unfinished drafts and a bare handful of finished or sort of finished poems. Right now I have 22 sort of finished poems and a couple of notes for the next two I can start on. In short, this was a productive day. I kind of worry more about an overdue baby than one that's a week or so under the magic 40 weeks. Not that 41 weeks is really any different than 40.

Last suitcase is packed and laid open on the floor. Contents need some minor rearranging. Bathroom has been scrubbed. Kitchen is getting terminal scrub-down now. Armoire, cupboards, drawers are all empty. Pantry and shelves are down to what they had when I arrived. Contents of fridge and freezer were boxed up and shipped out. And hopefully inserted in new fridge at other end. Cushion covers have been cleaned and are in laundry hamper so they won't collect cat hairs before tomorrow. The row of plants that had to come up have gone north to the mountain. Sod has been laid and watered. There is, of course, a layer of cat-food all over the living room floor from where I tripped over the food bowl. The bag has been packed up and shipped off, so this has to be picked up and put back in the bowl. Tomorrow I get to put both cats in one cat carrier, and additionally put a harness and leash on the big cat who knows how to get out of the cat carrier. Won't that be fun?

Rained yesterday, badly needed rain. Raining today. I hope to get some housecleaning done that was not done on the normal day. Maybe some packing of the pottery pieces in sheets and things.

What positive proof? He has lied before. He has been fired before. He has disrespected you before. He continues to lie. He continues to disrespect you. He is a lying liar who lies. He is wearing you down and trying to make you proud/grateful for scattered crumbs of basic human decency. Why give him more time in which to bully you? He could in many states be prosecuted for elder abuse, financial and emotional. He is grooming you to accept increasing abuse. Where will that end?