January 18, 19

 Nice lazy Saturday even though the skies are gray. I think we may have had a bit of rain last night. Areas that had a good snow cover (shaded or north facing sides) are showing more bare ground than snow. They say we will very cold temps over the next few days before the temperatures go above normal again. Saturday means soccer--usually. Last weekend was a break in the play. We are still avoiding the news except in very small doses. We can't do much about most of it even if it might come out to bite us. All we can do is hope we are flexible enough to handle it. I will let the talking heads worry over it.

Stray thought: some of those Republicans are real nasty bastards. I caught the snippets where two of them were criticizing efforts to get aid to California because "they didn't help Florida and North Carolina" in the recent disasters with Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They did pass an aid bill, a big one, in which All Democrats voted for it and All of the 'NO' votes came from Republicans. And then there was the Speaker of the House who thought they should extort "reforms" from California in return for aid. I don't remember any Democrats pushing for "reforms" from Florida or North Carolina. Worse there was that mental giant Tommy Tubberville simply saying that Californians didn't "deserve" assistance after the devastating fires--which aren't yet over. Who raised those bastards? Or who removed their empathy gene?

19******************************************************************************

Sunny today but really cold. The temperatures were in single digits and the wind chill put the 'feels like' temperature into the subzero range. We are staying in until Tuesday when we have a couple of errands planned. Spent the morning experimenting with the zoom loom and seeing if I couldn't figure out how to weave earlier blocks into the new block. It can be a bit trying and led to a couple of bouts of swearing. I have to keep reminding myself that getting good at something requires practice--a lot of practice.

Anne Applebaum posted this article today about her recent trip to Denmark to talk to her contacts and, she hoped, with government officials about Trumps call with the Danish Prime Minister. The main reaction is a WTF??? I think that is probably the same reaction from Mexico and Canada. Several commentators suggested that the real effort is to take attention away from Trump's domestic agenda. Like a magician the aim is misdirection--to keep people from focusing on what he really wants to do. But a section in a book I mentioned recently ( A HISTORY OF FRANCE by Norwich) gave me a parallel possibility. Louis XIV and those who followed him, including Napoleon, used the distraction of distant, foreign wars to the same end--they provided distraction from the serious problems at home. I hope he doesn't go beyond misdirection.

Bill McKibben has a gloomy entry today. There is an old saying that comes to mind: it isn't what you don't know that will bite you in the ass; it what you are absolutely convince is true but isn't that will really hurt you. I would add that you can also be seriously screwed by "leaders" who think they know what they are doing. We aren't in the time  of FAFO (F**k around and find out); we are in the time of FAWAFO (F**k around and we'll all find out).