Meandering thoughts on winter and other things...

I've been thinking about winter because ... it's winter.  And although a somewhat bipolar (no pun intended) winter this year - with temperature variations in the last several weeks from 3 degrees to 55 degrees and almost no snow (knock on wood) - it IS winter.  Here is today's weather in mid coast Maine as of about an hour ago:

The big news this morning is the approaching blizzard, which the media - in their wisdom and desperation to attract viewers - is calling "Winter Storm Jonas".

I confess that although I empathize with those threatened by the coming blizzard, my main feeling about this news is one of gratitude that mid coast Maine is not in the storm's path.  The first year we lived here, we had a storm that dumped 32 inches:

David's car post-blizzard!

I figure, we've done blizzard.

It is interesting to me that the storm coverage states that governors are advising people to lay in supplies for 72 hours or even a week, expecting that people may lose power that long.  I am recalling the storm from a few years ago, not Hurricane Sandy, before that, that came on October 31st when the trees still bore leaves.  We were living in Connecticut and lost power for 11 days.  11 days!  Luckily we had a gas stove, so we could heat water, cook food.  We took showers at a gym downtown (where the power lines were underground so they didn't lose power) and at work.  And at home, we were cold!

Speaking of cold, I bought a new winter coat this year.  I wasn't satisfied with my old one from LL Bean.  Most of the time it was warm enough, but on truly bitterly cold days, even with layers, I felt cold in it.  I really looked around for a replacement, and finally settled on a coat from Lands End, the insulated Squall Parka.  Here it is:

Its only shortcoming may be that it is too warm, and possibly too heavy.  I do wonder whether I will be able to actually lift the jacket in order to put it on as I get older and presumably weaker.  The coat is so warm, that I find I can't wear it all that often, even up here, even in winter (at least, this winter).  I wear it on my morning walks with Ella, and if I take her out at night, I usually wear it then.  Otherwise I'm back to my aging LL Bean parka.

What I like about the new coat are the pockets.  There are 5 of them.  An inside one where I put my phone.  4 outside pockets where I store the following:

1) Kleenex - I can't leave the house in the winter without a large supply of tissues; the alternative would be neither polite nor pretty.

2) Dog biscuits - I can't leave the house with Ella EVER without a supply of dog biscuits.  

3) Tennis ball - this is a requirement only for long morning walks when we stop down at the Ohara's Bait yard by the water to toss the ball for 5-10 minutes - yes, even in the bitter cold (although not in the pouring rain; even Ella doesn't insist on that).

4) Poop bags - this is a requirement for every walk with Ella, and it is sound practice to carry 2 poop bags; you never know when it might be a 2 bag day!

So you can see, I need 4 pockets - and the inside pocket for the cell phone is a nice perk (although the jacket is badly designed in this area; the pocket is between the outside fabric of the coat and the inside insulation; that means the phone gets cold; the insulation should be on the outside of the pocket, between its contents and the cold).

In other news... the right wing nut jobs are still illegally occupying the wildlife refuge in Oregon... the Republican candidates are still whipping up division and hatred... Bernie Sanders creeps up in the Iowa polls... I hope to attend a workshop on participating in Maine's Democratic caucuses (actually enrolled as a Democrat - was a non-enrolled Independent) so I can vote for Bernie in the primary)... I miss my grandsons, must visit before too long... 

The sky is clear and so blue.  5 planets are aligning each night, visible just before dawn.  One night this week, I'll get up extra early to see them:

Peace, peace, far and near, soon, in our lifetimes, and forever.

Merry Chanukah

Below are the windjammers at Ulner's Point, wrapped up for the winter and, this year, for the first time since we moved here, decorated for Chanukah:

Later they added a Christmas tree to another of the masts, but I have to say, the tree does not seem so impressive as the Magen David (Star of David).  See how the tiny tree appears to float over to the left?

So, Merry Chanukah everyone.  That was the greeting on my holiday gift from my son and grandsons. Inside was the best gift of all: a DVD containing another 90 minutes of "Wet Pants and the Fisher Baby," a home movie professionally edited by my son Sam, with soundtrack and all.  This is, I think, the third or fourth episode.  This new episode was all about their trip up here to visit us this past summer. 

I sent the boys Christmas "hats". Sam sent this photo.  Are they not handsome?  (You can't really see it, but Cello is wearing reindeer antlers that light up!)

Christmas Day it was 52 degrees here.   David and I went to the Methodist Home at 7:00 am to help make Christmas dinner to package up and send out for the "Meals on Wheels" program.  We worked there with a few other volunteers until 9:30 or so, and then went over to the church where the community Christmas Dinner is held and worked there through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.  We served about 110-120 guests.  Santa Claus even dropped by:

And now we turn toward the end of the old year and the start of the new.  

Is there a chance for peace on earth?   May it be so, in our lifetime.

Piece work

I don't think this is going to change anything, but I find I have to speak out about guns.  Someone somewhere posted something saying, I badly paraphrase here, that the Second Amendment is just a law that people living 200 years ago constructed.  It's manmade, and can be unmade.  I agree.  It's tens of thousands of lives overdue.  So, here are my own personal recommendations for addressing gun violence.  I posted these on Facebook.  Not a single "friend" commented or "liked" them, likely because no one took the time to read the whole lengthy post.  I apologize in advance for hard-headedness, but I'm going to keep posting these thoughts over and over again.  

1. Repeal the Second Amendment, together with repeal of all “stand your ground” laws. No further “self defense” right using any firearm. No further right to carry concealed weapons. Legal use of guns by other than police, army, security personnel limited to lawful hunting and target practice/competition (such as in Olympics).

2. Ban possession of all assault rifles, all automatic and semi-automatic weapons and all ammunition for any of the same, possession of the same carries minimum fines and jail time, and bans the possessor permanently from ever receiving a license to own a gun.

3. All guns in the possession of anyone in the US must be turned in within one year of the law’s passage to specified local governmental offices.

4. When turned in, the gun owner may make an application to become a licensed gun owner. If the owner does not apply within the year, the gun is forfeited, subject to request for reimbursement (see #5 below)

5. During the first year after passage of the law, if the possessor of gun(s) does not want to apply to become a licensed gun owner and the possessor can demonstrate prior legal ownership of the gun(s), the possessor will be reimbursed the then fair market value of the gun(s), with 50% of the reimbursement paid by the government and 50% paid by the NRA.

6. The application process to obtain a license for gun ownership will include, at a minimum:

a. Background check;

b. Waiting period;

c. Documented completion of a required gun safety course;

d. Documented completion of a required gun operation course;

e. Proof of ownership of a gunlock.

f. Annual license renewal;

g. Proof of insurance;

h. Requirement to carry license and proof of insurance with gun when the gun is in lawful use;

7. Every resale of a licensed gun will require the existing owner to be licensed and the new owner to have received a license prior to taking possession of the gun.

8. Possession (and not just use or use in commission of a crime) of an unlicensed gun is subject to fine and minimum jail time and bans possessor from ever receiving a gun license.

9. Each state shall place a limit on the number of guns that may be owned by a single individual; provided that ownership of more than 5 handguns and/or 5 long guns requires the owner to register and obtain a federal license as a gun collector or gun dealer. Similar legislation re possession of ammunition.

10. When not in use for lawful purposes, all guns must have a lock in place on the weapon. If a gun lawfully licensed to an owner is discovered by police without a lock in place (including inadvertent discovery), the owner’s license must be suspended for a minimum of 90 days. A second occurrence, 180 days suspension. A third occurrence, permanent banning from having any gun license.

11. If a licensed gun is determined to have been used by anyone other than the registered gun owner, subject to #12 below, the owner is subject to significant fine and the gun license is suspended for a minimum of 90 days. A second occurrence, 180 days suspension. A third occurrence, permanent banning from having any gun license

12. If licensed gun is used in a crime or if any injury to a person occurs as a result of such use, whether used by the owner or someone else, in addition to any other charges applicable to the incident, the owner is permanently banned from having any gun license in the future and is subject to minimum jail time.

13. All use of guns by other than police, army, security personnel is prohibited during the first year following passage of the law. Use of any gun during the first year after passage of the law is a crime, whether the gun is used for hunting, target practice, etc., and the user of the gun will be banned permanently from becoming a licensed gun owner.

14. The federal and state governments should require the NRA to fund anti-gun advertisements and education. The NRA should be required to pay 50% of all gun safety courses and gun operation courses for all gun license applications for some minimum period of time such as 10 years.

* * * * *

Not in my lifetime; not in my children's lifetimes, not even in my grandchildren's lifetimes - how many more must die?

Peace.

Trichoepithelioma - say what?

Trichoepithelioma -  hard to say, impossible to spell but very good news.  Here's the whole message from Dr. Church, one of Ella's vets:

"Ella's biopsy results came back as a benign trichoepithelioma, which is an uncommon benign mass of dogs. The surgical excision was complete so recurrence is 
unlikely and the surgery is considered curative. So, great news! I hope she's doing well."

Ella IS doing well.  Her franken-scar is healing up.  We made an appointment to have her stitches removed next Wednesday.  She has finished all of her medications except antibiotics, and has one more day to take that.  The cooler weather (it was 24 degrees this morning) has made her frisky, and I would say that she's bored.  She wants to play.  She wants to run.  But although we've resumed our long walks, I haven't let her off leash to run, or chase a ball or a stick.  Soon, Ella, soon.

Meanwhile, Chicago finally releases a video showing the execution of Laquan McDonald, a 17-year old black youth, who was shot 16 times by a cop.  The cop has been indicted - but who wants to bet he gets off?  He's on paid leave in the meantime.  Paid leave!  

And the one year anniversary has come and passed of the murder of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old.  I understand a 911 caller reported a young black male with a gun - which the caller also told the 911 responder "might not be real" - but the cops who came to "investigate" claimed they were not told that the gun might be a toy, and they shot the child dead.  The toy gun was tucked in his waistband.  Tamir, may your memory be a blessing for your family and community and all young people of color everywhere.  These are my grandsons, Tamir.  I wish you could have known each other. I will tell them about you some day.

  

Meanwhile... Donald Trump would water board suspected terrorists whether or not it did any good (presumably whether it led to any useful information) because "they deserve it."  And Muslims would have to "register" and have a "special ID."  I think I went to sleep and dreamed I woke up in Germany in 1939. But wait, I'm awake.  Aren't I?

Thanksgiving arrives.  We will have dinner with our neighbors, Melissa and Tobias, and others of their family.  I have much to be grateful for, and notwithstanding the state of the world, it is important to remember that fact.  I am grateful every day for my health, for David, for my children and grandchildren, for Ella, for living in this beautiful place:

Peace.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

First, Ella:  her $1,000 surgery is scheduled for next week.  In the meantime, she has been bothering the place on her leg where they shaved the fur off of the cyst, so that the incisions they made to do a biopsy and then drain it haven't healed well.  We had go back and get what the vet referred to as a "cone of shame".  Ella doesn't like it, but she is very stoic.  Poor baby.  She's not thrilled right now.  Wait until post-surgery when she has to wear this thing non-stop for a week or more:

And... my truck's in the shop.  We had an appointment for the past two weeks for this past Monday.  On Sunday, the "check engine" light came on, and the truck began running really roughly, a problem it has had in the past but which I thought they had resolved last year.  Two days later, I'm waiting on the call to pick up the truck.  The "check engine" issue was a bad spark plug, likely due to a underlying problem with one of the cylinders.  To "fix" the underlying problem is major work - $1,800-$2,000.  Not doing it now.  Will just keep replacing spark plugs, hopefully once or twice a year until that doesn't work any more.  Meanwhile, the other "routine" work that was planned before the "check engine" issue will come to slightly more than $1,000 - just stuff needed to pass the safety inspection.  (One thing I wonder is how everyone in Maine keeps their cars "safe," given the cost to meet the inspection standards.  There are too many poor people driving too many older cars, so I know they can't be having $1,000 in work done on their cars every year.  There must be mechanics out there who will do a pro forma job and issue the stickers.  I guess I could look for such a mechanic, but our guys are good, trustworthy, and in the end, I actually do want a safe vehicle.  Still, $1,000... with a larger $2,000 problem looming in the future ... it hurts.)  And...

Yet another visit this week to Dead River, our new fuel company, the one that sold us the new propane furnace.  They have been unable to straighten out our billing since day one.  Having paid the $7,500 purchase price for the furnace, my next invoice showed me owing $9,000.  I've been into their local office (conveniently a block from our house) twice a month since August.  Finally this week their office manager got involved.  The result of her calculations: I owed another $800, which I paid (I do have a sneaking suspicion this may still be wrong and I plan to double-check her numbers.)  Of course, I am still waiting on a $600 rebate the company was responsible for applying for on my behalf.   A customer - at least, THIS customer - just can't win.

Anyway, maybe it's just the Bang! Bang! Bang! of these three big bills, but I'm feeling down.  Or maybe it's reading about what's going on in the bigger world. I need a sanity check.  I wish I could magically leave the U.S. and spend a week in 5 or 6 different countries so that I could "see" the U.S. from a different reality.  Living in the U.S. feels like waking up in a carnival "fun house" where you look in the mirror and you see 100 images, all distorted:  A mirror in which Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are considered "mainstream" Republican candidates and Hillary "Wall Street" Clinton is referred to as a "progressive."  Students in a Yale fraternity turn a black woman away from a frat house party, openly saying, "white girls only."   An 8 year old African-American child is taken away by police in handcuffs.  10,000 refugees enter Greece in one week, and Trump earns applause for insisting we will forcibly remove all undocumented workers from the U.S. and build a fence between the U.S. and Mexico ("It will work," he says, "look at Israel."  Yeah, let's look at Israel!).  Ben Carson says the pyramids were built not for burying pharaohs but to store grain, and he wants to replace Medicare with a $2,000 health care savings account.  A doctor sends out a notice to his patients that he will no long prescribe birth control because he's a Catholic, and people I know and believe to be educated and reasonable defend that position.  A poll conducted in Israel finds that a majority of Israeli Jews believe that "suspected" terrorists should be executed on the spot, and the houses of their families should be demolished; the Israeli government approves 2,000 more housing units in  the West Bank and retroactively approves two illegal settlements - the same week Obama welcomes Netanyahu to the White House.  2015 is on track to be the warmest year on record, with record carbon released into the atmosphere, carbon that will continue impacting the environment for hundreds of years, even if we were to cease releasing any more carbon into the atmosphere today.  

I could go on, but I really just want to go back to bed, or go into a closet, wrap a coat around my head, and stay there.  Or take a long walk off the end of this pier (pic from Ella's and my walk 2 days ago):

At least I don't have a cone around my head.  At the risk of spitting into the wind, I will pray to the God of Abraham, who is the God I choose not to believe in, for:

Peace.

Animal talk

Poor Jinx.  A lost ferret must have a very tough life.  Yes, we have a lost ferret in our neighborhood.  His/her name is Jinx.  He/she is very cute.  Like a baby raccoon:

We've been keeping an eye out on our walks.  I'm sure Ella would LOVE to find a ferret, any ferret.  North Main Street is just around the corner from us.  We walk on some part of it almost every day.  I feel bad for the ferret.  It's been cold.  There are other wild creatures out there, and outdoor cats, that likely wouldn't want a ferret moving into their territory.  I wonder how the ferret went "missing".  How do you lose a ferret? Like a dog?  Got off leash?  Do you "walk" a ferret?

Not that I want to be mercenary about it, but the posters - which are everywhere - don't say what you need to do to get the reward.  Do you get it if you call in a tip - "Saw Jinx on Cedar street at 6:45 am"?  Or only if you manage to capture (how the heck do you catch a ferret?) and return Jinx to his obviously distressed owners (do they consider themselves "owners" of the ferret?  or its "mom" and/or "dad")?

Anyway, that's what's happening on the escaped domestic animal front.

In other animal news closer to home, we took Ella to the vet today.  She was to get a booster vaccine, but in the end, didn't.  I wanted the vet to look at a cyst-like thing on her leg.  I was worried about it, expecting bad news.  It turned out to be likely a benign cyst that had become infected.  They drained it, we paid them $200 and they sent us home with antibiotics, probiotics and anti-inflammatory meds.  In two or three weeks she is to go back to have the underlying cyst itself removed surgically.  Cost - about $800 - $1,000.  Ah, well... it's only money...  Like I told the vet, "there goes Christmas!"  Then I admitted I am Jewish.  Ha ha ha.  I am so grateful that it is a benign cyst that the surgery bill seems quite reasonable.  Who couldn't love this cute face (so I feel very sad for Jinx, who has a very cute face him/herself)?

In other hang dog news:

... the Mets lost Game 1 of the World Series in a 14 inning, 5 hour marathon.  I gave up after inning 12, when it was 4 to 4, I think.  The Kansas City Royals seem to be on a mission.  The Mets seem ... well, like the Mets.  Game 2 tonight - along with the next Republican so-called "debate."  

... meanwhile, a 2.8 billion dollar blimp escaped its "mooring" and is floating across the Pennsylvania countryside, knocking out power lines and causing power outages, while two air force (or some sort of military) fighter jets (try to) track it.  How much success you think they're having might be measured by the fact that they've asked "the public" to call in if the blimp is sighted.  

... several hundred people, including hundreds of women and children, captives of Boko Haram, apparently have been rescued by the Nigerian army.  Good, but not enough. #BringBackOurGirls - every single one of them.  Soon.  Today.

Peace, peace, far and near.

Raking leaves

and reading poetry (Wesley McNair, Stuart Kestenbaum, a collection by 4 local women poets), beginning Ta-Nehisi Coates' book Between the World and Me, making potato-leek soup, buying Ella more food, snacks and crispy duck (like duck jerky), trying to find a local store that sells mattress toppers and sleeping with my camping air mattress under the sheet on top of the futon in the meantime, thinking about letting my hair grow long(er), vacuuming and vacuuming and vacuuming up dog hair, dead leaves and wood shavings (tracked up from the cellar by David from the beautiful skin-on-frame kayak David has made for me; skin to go on in the spring), adding leaves to and turning the compost bins, and always, morning (and often afternoon and/or evening) walks with Ella.  This weekend:

Down at the pier on Saturday morning, all the boats except this one had been pulled from the water.  The next morning, all these floating docks had all been pulled out of the water, too, and stacked up on shore.  Now the pier is just ... the pier.  Until next spring.  Then maybe I'll rent a dingy space on the floating docks for my little wooden boat.  And I can walk down to the pier, jump in the boat, and row / sail off into the blue... In the meantime... considering 

The machinations of human beings.  We shout.  We rail.  We murder one another.  We watch children starve with food in our grocery stores, warehouses and refrigerators.  We let people die of disease with drugs to cure them on the shelf.  We lay on our air mattresses and don't know the names of those who sleep on the street, in our own town. Who are we?  Why are we?  

But the Mets are in the World Series, so all is not completely wrong with the world.  My grandson turns 9 on Halloween.  And locally we can help bats, talk death, learn consciousness or serve dogs:

Help Set a World Record and Do Good for Maine Bats, Sat., Oct. 31, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Maine Coastal Islands NWR Visitor Center in Rockland is one of many host sites across U.S. & Canada trying to build 5,000 bat houses in a day. Call for a time slot to assemble a kit: 594-0600, ext. 5. 

Rockland South End Death Cafe, 4-6 p.m., Sail, Power & Steam Museum, Rockland. Eat cake, talk about death. Not a bereavement session, therapy or grief support. Donations welcome. RSVP: 701-7627. FMI: Death Cafe.com.

Class on Theta Consciousness, 1-4 p.m., Belfast Dance Studio. Led by Deborah Knight Eaton, author of “Going Deep: My Transcendent Journey into Theta Consciousness,” on sale at Coyote Moon, Belfast Co-op, Amazon. $45. FMI: 338-1424, ThetaPatterning@gmail.com.

Dogtoberfest at The Animal House, Fri., Oct. 30, 4-6 p.m., 15 Coastal Market Dr., Damariscotta. Dog beer and sausages will be served. FMI: 563-5595.

Me, I vote for Dogtoberferst.  Ella does, too.

Peace.