December 21--Winter Solstice

Shortest day/longest day--from on the days will start getting longer. Our winter wreath has been on the door for about a week. We don't really do much for Christmas and this year we will be staying home just as we did for Thanksgiving. Most of the rest of the family is doing the same.

The blah that is 2020 has infected some of my gardening thoughts for 2021. I have thought about what to plant but haven't really decided. Usually by this time I have my seed orders in and my transplant list made out. As of today--only vague ideas and none have sparked any enthusiasm. I am not starting any seeds inside this year. I have to simply recognize that I don't have the space to devote to it. I gave my nephew my grow lights.

December 22

Andrew Bacevich makes a number of good points in the essay on the "Madness of War, American Style."

December 23

Well, #45 threw the turds into the punchbowl. After weeks of being absent from any form of governing he suddenly takes an interest in the funding bills passed Sunday night. Once again he cut Moscow Mitch's legs out from under him. Pelosi immediately called his bluff and is setting up an amendment to meet #45's demand that the $600 direct payments to individuals be raised to $2000. He mentioned some unspecified expenditures he thought wasteful that he wanted eliminated. He hasn't yet vetoed the bills and one, the Defense authorization, was passed by margins which indicate the congress can over ride easily. The COVID relief measures are attached to the funding bill that would pay for government operations through at least the first couple of months of 2020. He might let the bills become law without his signature which can happen since the legislatures are not in recess. I don't know where it will end besides in the inauguration on January 20. [update: #45 has just vetoed the Defense Authorization bill]

Britain has discovered another variant of the Covid-19 virus that they think is much more transmissible though not necessarily more lethal. The BBC segment this morning indicated that the South Africans have found other more easily transmitted variants and are working on those. But the announcement has upset everything it seems. They have a massive back up at the ports where truckers are backed up with both sides demanding recent negative tests before allowing the "accompanied" cargoes to pass borders. And the British authorities have imposed severe lockdowns in the southeast including London.