August 15--officially half past the month.

Time to take a break. Yesterday has been a time of chaos and trying to get things back to a bit of normal. Our landlords had to get a blocked sewer pipe cleared but before we realized there was a problem we had water backing up from our utility closet and half of the living room rug soaked. Then we had to have the carpet cleaned. But a large part of the day was taking care of those problems. Today we had to get all of the things we had in the under-the-stairs closet checked out and put back after it dried out. Mom just finished mopping the bathroom floor--the water that went that way soaked the rugs and made the cat litter the little monsters threw out a mass of sludge. That is all taken care of  now and our normal pattern has been re-established. I also got out for about two hours in the gardens. I pulled the fading and tattered petunias, replaced them with the calibrachoa sunbells. Those should do well there since they don't mind the full sun. Some of the plants now have to deal with partial shade because the shadow of the house is traveling back toward the fence.

Axios is reporting that the Afghan president has left the country. One of the Taliban demands has been his removal from office. Now they are talking about "unconditional surrender." I wonder "How do you 'negotiate' such an uncompromising demand?" I don't think you do.

According to the news reports the FDA has authorized a third COVID shot for Americans with compromised immune systems. My niece just said that she had already received hers. She has several conditions which weaken her immunity and has been taking steroids for sever pain associated with them. The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel, which has persistently been ahead of the curve on vaccinations, has authorized a booster for all over age 50.

The insurance companies are, according to this story, starting to get tough on the unvaccinated. The story concerns individual health insurance but I would expect the push will also target corporate customers soon--if it has't already. That is pretty much what happened with smoking. They basically gave breaks to companies that took a tough line on encouraging employees to quit. Some even refused to hire or retain smokers.