A brief reminder to ICE
Just to refresh your memories, the law officers who swept up, transported, interned and guarded innocent Japanese citizens during World War Two thought they were doing honorable, patriotic work. Now...
View ArticleMy mother died a couple weeks ago. Thoughts on her legacy of female empowerment.
My mother died a couple weeks ago, on March 1. She was 86, which seems like a pretty good run, but is actually a bit on the low side for women from her family line. The important thing is that she died...
View ArticleAHCA stopped--and now the real work has to begin.
Seeing Trump/Ryancare stopped in its bloody tracks was a victory, and a reason to celebrate, but as soon as the confetti has settled those defending the ACA have to leverage the right's failure into a...
View ArticleThe smirking face of Trumpcare
Here’s the smirking face of the sort of person that Trumpcare is supposed to help, and will help, to the detriment of most of America.Koch faces could be substituted, or a large portion of Death Panel...
View ArticleMany climate science deniers don't believe there is flooding in Texas--
Because Ted Cruz is dry.On the subject of idiots, what will Alex Jones and his ilk have to say about Harvey down the line? That it was caused by renegade climate scientists in Obama’s thrall? Mexico...
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A minor Solstice miracle
Doing wildlife rehab you end up with some critters that demand every bit of skill--and luck--you can muster. Dovey was like that. She was only a very few days old. No bigger than my wife's thumb....
View ArticleTips for cold weather survival
Cold comfort.A lot of folks are experiencing more cold than they've ever encountered before. Close to 65 years of living on an island in Northern New York, where it can and has hit 40 below, have given...
View ArticleSpring in Northern NY state?
Big box of seeds waiting to get started. Tomatoes, peppers, other stuff. Last 2 days have been snow/sleet/freezing rain. Cold and miserable the last month.Have most of the parts prepared so I can...
View ArticleSupreme Court Down
Drumpf's obsessive hunt for as many ways to destroy as much of America as possible has bagged another blood-spattered trophy by consigning the Supreme Court to the inglorious ranks of once-honorable...
View ArticleFungus lovers rejoice!
If the thought of edible fungi gives you a thrill, this is, at least in upstate New York, a year to have you grinning from ear to ear.I have a secret puffball spot, but hadn't bothered to go check it...
View ArticleYet another early sighting of MAGA bomber van
We were surprised to see on our local news that a man originally from this area saw, and took video of the MAGA-bomber’s van back in July. Come to find out they went to the same gym, and when the...
View ArticleItching to vote
This is a true story.I woke up this Election Day morning itching.Itching to get chores done so my wife and I could go vote that straight blue line, sure. Neither of us has ever missed voting, and a...
View ArticleA dab over 2 gallons of Hell
Question: Have you ever prepared and canned home-grown horseradish? You can't say I don't remember, this can only have a yes or no answer. Preparing a largish quantity of the stuff for storage is...
View ArticleHelp! Hazardous material!
This one hideous and nasty piece of cloth. Actually, we have two of them, each about 3 feet wide and 9 long--and proudly made in America. You’re seeing about a third of one. We don't have them by...
View ArticleWhat if nobody watched the SOTU?
Now we have a date for the State of the Union, aka the SOTU--an event that is guaranteed to be Stupid, Offensive, Totally Untruthful. I don't do Twitter and avoid Facebook like an active outbreak of...
View ArticleFive-thumbed and fretful -relearning to play the guitar
A long time ago, and in a part of my life that now seems a million miles behind me, I used to play guitar. I started playing in the early Seventies and stopped in the mid-Eighties. I'll do the math for...
View ArticleFive Thumbed and Fretful -relearning to play the guitar Volume 2
Not quite a month ago I posted a story about picking up the guitar again after thirty-some years of not playing a single note. In the time since then I've seen some progress, and had a painful...
View ArticleJohnny Clegg--a brief memory
Heard on the radio today that Johnny Clegg, from the bands Juluka, Savuka, and solo work has passed on. Same age as me. Sigh.I got to see Clegg and Juluka on their first word tour, when they performed...
View ArticleHappy . . . lobster day?
To start with, I’ve been sick the last couple days. I usually get sick this time of year. I don’t do it on purpose, and this time I thought I had a handle on it, I was in control. I was on top of it....
View ArticleStephen Miller isn't a white nationalist. But . . .
Stephen Miller is not a white supremacist. Stephen Miller's white supremacist activities and affect are part of his cover. Part of his camouflage. A means to misdirect us from his actual identity and...
View ArticleStill not ready to make nice
If you are a Dixie Chicks fan, rejoice! They have a new single out (hopefully embedded here) in advance of a new album due May 1. If the single, ‘Gaslighter’ is any hint of what is to come, the Chicks...
View ArticleOur library closed today
Our library closed today.I'm VP of the Board of Macsherry Library, based in the small town of Alexandria Bay NY, up on the northern border along the St. Lawrence River. I've been on the board over 18...
View ArticleNow it's safe to feed the chickens their breakfast--a Covid 19 story
We have a small flock of chickens, have kept chickens for decades. There are thirteen hens, about half fully retired, the rest laying sporadically to regularly; we get two to five eggs a day, which is...
View ArticleFive-thumbed and fretful -relearning how to play guitar one year on
It has been a bit over a year since I dragged my old guitar out from under the stairs, equipped it with fresh strings--half the ones on it broke trying to tune them--and set out to see if I remembered...
View ArticleThe asterisk, the stink, and Forced-birth Barbie
The Forced-birth Barbie nomination to the Supreme Court began, as do most things Republican, in a monstrous act of smirking hypocrisy. They will cram this thinly experienced woman, who professes to...
View ArticleCelebrate the election workers, and . . .
One thing is certain: we need a day of national celebration and gratitude for those who worked the polls and labored in the under-decks of the election. These folks labored under enormous pressure at...
View ArticleA very small cider-based Solstice miracle
Confession: when it comes to certain food items, I am a snob. A provincial snob. One example is sweet corn. We do not eat sweet corn until local corn comes in, all of it grown within ten miles of where...
View ArticleNEWS FLASH! This just in . . .
This just in: it took the work of dozens of specialists to reconfigure Air Force One so it would properly convey the gravitas of the final flight of the departing occupant of the White House. There was...
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Blue snow is no better to eat than the yellow stuff.
In the summer the local rabbits are a menace, a relentless gnawing horde determined to wreak havoc on our gardens. More than once they have nearly moved me to violence. Extreme, you killed my third...
View ArticleFive-thumbed and fretful--second anniversary of playing guitar after a 35...
About this time the year before last I was compelled to drag my old acoustic guitar out from under the stairs after not having touched it for around 35 years--a tale of my late father's guitar,...
View ArticleVirtue signalling
Everyone I’ve met so far who got the shot has been proud of it, and eager to talk about the experience of getting it, and the relief and sense of security it brought. I’ve seen and heard folks...
View ArticleFive-thumbed and fretful--not ready to play stadiums
So a couple weeks ago my wife came back from a trip to the mainland to visit the dump, and tells me that she stopped at a garage sale on the way home and bought me a present. When one spouse says this...
View ArticleSondheim devised cryptic puzzles!
I am very fond* of crossword puzzles, but the ones that heat my blood and brain are cryptics. I’ve even written a few, some appearing here at DK a few years back. I love the sound of a way out. (5)When...
View ArticleCovid '21 -An off the grid Puzzle for year's end
Here at the year's end we are all weary and punch-drunk. Our nerves are either sharp and quivering as the spines of a hysterical sea urchin on crank, or we're number than a mud puddle shot full of...
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Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day! Raising baby squirrels
For most folks squirrels are just there. A fleeting presence seen from the corner of the eye, or spotted balanced on a branch or power line, watching, giving you the old prayer paws as they perhaps...
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Nailed it? Fake thumbnail for guitar playing.
I was wandering in the cosmetics section of Kinney Drugs looking, if not lost, at least perplexed. The young woman (maybe in her early thirties, half my age) stocking some shelves nearby smiled...
View ArticleShort message to Putin
The world has seen two leaders in these terrible days. They have seen President Zelensky on the streets in the besieged capitol of his motherland, grim, determined and brave, trying to help his people...
View ArticleFive-thumbed and Fretful--relearning to play the guitar: Infidelity!
I have been . . . unfaithful. I have been untrue.Those who have read my occasional odd posts about my attempts to return to guitar playing after a nearly 35 year hiatus have seen many references to...
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S**t show --a true story
This is the true tale of a cascading shit-show. The weekend before the one just gone by Ii got a call from my friend Dale; I informally caretake for him and his husband...
View ArticleWould-be Speaker desperately seeking more nuts
My wife and I do wildlife rehab, and the above pose at left is one anyone who has raised squirrels or watched their feeders would recognize: this an utterly unready for real life mammal with a very...
View ArticleFobbed off and frustrated. A still life with trash bags
So there I was, holding bulging garbage bags up against our car door. Why? Well . . .Where and how we live makes a car--cars--a necessity. We live on an island in the St. Lawrence River, reachable by a...
View ArticleIn praise of the book: Index, A History of the--
I don’t remember learning to read. I was always told that I picked up reading early and easily, and that must be so because I can’t remember not being able to read. I was a voracious reader when I was...
View ArticleKick them where it sags
According to the information I have seen, penicillin is four times more likely to lead to death than mifepristone. Interesting, but not an issue for me, I’m allergic to it. One other drug cited as...
View ArticleIs this 'Quota exceeded' thing just happening to me?
I don’t consider myself too profligate with my recs, but neither am I stingy with them. I know what sort of work goes into writing something coherent, readable, and useful—I’ve done it once or twice...
View ArticleMany, many thanks
I got a notification this evening that some kind, generous soul donated a gift subscription to me, perhaps in response to yesterday’s post about the strange ‘You have exceeded your quota’ message I was...
View ArticleFishbreath, and dodging a cardiac event
The good news is that I didn't have a heart attack.So I came home from work early a few days ago, mid-afternoon, thinking I could put in yet another hour on the woodpile. We had a 7 face-cord load...
View ArticleA quiet vow to absent friends
Just a few days ago a voice on the TV informed me that an old friend is gone.I have never been much for New Year's resolutions, and the older I get, the less likely I am to construct such flimsy...
View ArticleToot toot! Peanut butter!
Two pieces of family lore: first, when I was a baby my aunt Joan dropped me, and I landed on my head; second, one of my first-ever and favorite solid foods was peanut butter.1While it might be...
View Article5 thumbed and fretful --5 years back playing guitar
A while back, in the days before Covid, I extracted my old Epiphone acoustic guitar out from under the stairs and started to see if I could re-learn how to play after a layoff of about thirty-five...
View ArticleIn the path of the totality--and a total pain in the a$$?
Just a hasty, hit and run note about the upcoming eclipse. We live on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, in northern NY state, and we are one small bead on the string of ground zeros...
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