We're Good in Everyday Ramblings

This is from the Eastside Esplanade last weekend. In spite of what you may be seeing on the news, Portland Oregon is not under siege. Yes we have protestors, and yes the demonstrations against police brutality and excessive use of force and systemic racism, for Black Lives Matter and the woes of the world in general continue, but what is really going on is that the people at a national level are making decisions about what suits their political purposes and are spouting fearful rhetoric that serves them, not what is actually going on.

We have always had a small group of anarchists. Seriously, a number of them live about half a block away from me. They are always there, on the edges of every demonstration here, this is nothing new. Why would they not take advantage of the press spotlight to get their point across? We have always had white supremacists in our midst and in the outlying areas. They often come in conflict.

The state has a profoundly racist history. Honestly, I don’t think our disturbed president even knows where Oregon is, he came here once in May of 2016 for a brief stop in our most liberal city, Eugene, but has never been to Portland. (Oregon is on the West Coast of the United States between Washington where Seattle is and California.)

We’re good.

The Feds can go home now. Our federal properties do not need protecting by Homeland Security employees in army fatigues in unmarked vans picking people up randomly off the streets. I think we have a “Boys with Too Many Toys” problem here. And a desperate deranged man in the White House that everybody wishes to either suck up to or ignore.

Here in my world things are okay. Diego is not all better, he still throws up randomly but much much less often. We have somewhere between 3 and 7 weeks left on the elimination diet, and that is surprisingly harder on him than it is on Carlo who is remarkably chill about the change. Diego follows me everywhere and would prefer to be on me more than not. It gets a little intense sometimes.

Our Covid caseloads are higher than they have ever been, and people are dying. No so much and as many in other places but alarming after all this time. I am now wearing a mask every time I go out, alone or not. And the being in a car or a bus thing is on hold for the time being.

I walked with Charity on Thursday and Most Honorable on Friday and both of those outings were quite enjoyable. Mrs. Sherlock has too many folks wanting to spend time with her, so she is chilling at home with Mr. Sherlock this midsummer weekend.

I got cavalier with the daily sciatica yoga practice there after a while and yesterday and today I am paying for that with a flare up. Also, my sinuses got riled up and I thought I was getting an ear infection. I gently cleaned my ear out with warm water and have been using steam and nasal lavage and that is getting better, but it just seems like the challenges keep on rolling in.

It is dry and hot and buggy; there are spiderwebs everywhere.

We learned a new tree on Friday, a bald cypress. Now that we know, and I got confirmation on iNaturalist, I look forward to tracking it through the seasons. Apparently, they are gorgeous in the fall.

I am trying to imagine the fall at this point.

There is a whole lifetime’s worth of damage repair to be done out there on so many levels. But first, at least here, we need to have the spotlight move elsewhere and batten down the hatches and get this virus back down to a manageable level.

Last updated July 19, 2020