October 16

 Good Sunday to you all. We had a nice day yesterday but changes are on the way for a very cool (almost cold) beginning of the week through next Friday. The meteorologists on the morning news is warning viewers to dig out the hats and coats because kids as the school bus stops will need them tomorrow morning. Thankfully we only have errands on two days this coming week.

I hope you all don't have a passion for snow crab or red king crab. You will be miserable if this story is accurate. I wish I could say that this is an anomoly but over the last 20 years I have read reports of several cancelled seafood harvests on both coasts as the water temperatures have risen. A couple of those cancellations involved toxic algal blooms resulting in toxic shellfish.

The morning TV news indicate that orange/orange juice lovers should be prepared for price increases because of the damage from Hurricane Ian. According to interviewees, the citrus farmers in Florida were just getting back to some level of normal after Hurricane Irma 5 years ago. If they replant damaged/dead/dying trees tomorrow it takes about 5 years for a fruit tree to mature and produce fully.

This CBS report asks the recurring question that comes up twice a year when we have to shift our clocks. We are three weeks away from the "fall back" part of that ritual. I have never taken that well being out of sorts and tired for a couple of weeks to a month after while my biological clock adjusts. My cats have never adjusted well either. The whole thing has been compared to a person who cuts six inches off the top of a blanket and sews it to the bottom insisting it makes the blanket is longer. Once upon a time it might have had an economic benefit but that was before we became a 24/7/365 economy. I really hope that the politicos decide on either standard time or daylight saving time (not that daylight really can be "saved").

This was good news for me: Social Security will get a hefty (by comparison with past) increase. I have seen a couple of stories complaining that it isn't keeping up with inflation which is true since the annual inflation to date is 9.2% and our increases over the last few years have been well below the inflation rate. My mother and I get along because we both get Social Security otherwise we couldn't afford just our rent much less the car, or utilities, etc. At least, according to the TV news, we won't have to fork over any of the increase for Medicare.