Dull Moment? I Think Not in Everyday Ramblings

The last few days I have been down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what kind of tree this is. I thought they (there are four of them close by) might be walnuts, but they are not…so this leads me to three other options…Tree-of-Heaven, Ailanthus altissima, or it is possibly some sort of Locust or what I was rooting for…an Oregon White Ash.

I talked to some older homeowners that have one of the trees out front yesterday and they are absolutely categorically in the “we hate this tree but can’t afford to get it taken down camp”. The shade that they were throwing at their own tree was pretty astonishing and leads me to believe it is a Tree-of Heaven brought to the U.S. in the 1770s.

They also are magnets for the Spotted Lanternfly, which as far as I know we don’t have here yet. I heard a science news program about them back in November on NPR. The bugs, not the trees. In PA. they are testing a wasp that is a natural predator against them.

The house that two of these large trees are up against will be coming down shortly. It is an interesting house with a rich history (and a cool Cupola) built in the 1880’s. A mentally unstable hoarder was living there until quite recently when he needed to go into care. The house was sold quickly and cheaply eventually to the Waldorf School across the street. The anti-vaxer Waldorf School.

In the last couple of weeks our power company came and took down all of the Oregon Maples in the parking meridian on the side street next to the house that is coming down. There were at least six of them. It is startling how little shade there is now on that side of the street.

This is all I know for now about all this. But I am curious so will keep investigating.

After three months of having the public park across the street be public during the lockdown this morning there were two young women in big nanny aprons and a group of little privileged kids playing together. There was no social distancing. One of the teachers or childcare workers was wearing a mask but it was around her neck. This school treats this publicly funded park as their personal playground.

There were a couple older kids with a parent, all wearing masks over on the other side playing on some equipment. Even that feels new.

My birthday was nice, it was so great to see actual real people for a little while.

Yesterday after a series of unforeseen circumstances having to do with a faulty garage door and nothing to do with me, Mrs. Sherlock brought over a homemade almond cake, some eggs from her last lone chicken and yummy walnut salad. We stood out in the breezeway and chatted while I got to schmooze with Frieda.

Charity got a chance to meet Mrs. Sherlock and we may, all three, go walking on Saturday together, four if you count Frieda.

I was tired, weirdly tired yesterday until I realized that I am really really mad about what is happening to my country, and I have been trying to tamp it down, push it away and aside and that takes energy. And the anger itself is a kind of energy.

It was good to know this. Helpful. At least for me, if not for my country.

What can I do today to help someone in need? What can I do today to empower someone who has been discriminated against?

Mr. Zanzibar called from San Francisco on Thursday night with birthday wishes. It was so great to hear from him. He says as a black man he has been on a wild roller coaster emotionally over the last month. He has heard things he never thought he would hear in his lifetime, but he tempers his exhilaration at that with a deeply earned skepticism 83 years in this body has instilled in him.

I promised to keep in touch. He doesn’t have a computer so it can be a challenge…

Diego has been calmer today. we have good days like today and then not quite so good days where he is super clingy. I hope we can make the good days happen more and more often as we head down this long intense elimination diet path.

I finally gave up after two months of waiting for the backordered Logitech webcam and ordered another brand. I got it set up yesterday and now I need to record a class using it…

There is never a dull moment these days where technology is concerned.

Last updated June 23, 2020