I seem to have lost my ability to write here. Again. in These titles mean nothing.

Not sure why. I’m never sure what makes me write. Pictures help. And for some reason right now anyway photobucket is not working well. I put up a couple pics a day or so ago with plans to post them here but now I can’t get to them. I blame McCaffee but it might not be his fault. It might be the weather’s fault. It might be fate. It might be my general miserableness. And for that I apologize. Profusely.

Ok got that off my chest. So to speak. Let’s move on to the ten most easy things I can write about. Are you ready? Of course you are ready.

1. I have driven another employer into the ground. On Tuesday we were told the plant is closing. The end date is March 31, 2017. We are told there is too much competition and we are not competitive. Plus there is decreased demand for what we do. Our work will go to the plant in Mexico.
   The corporate man who told us had an English accent and he emphasized how hard it was on him to have to close another plant. This is number six in his career.
   We took it pretty well. There will be state and federal help for us, extended unemployment payments and schooling for those who are interested in that.
   When something like that happens it’s never a surprise. Well of course it’s a surprise. But it’s not.
   I have no idea how it affects me. I have been close to quitting for the last few months. I suppose now I’ll stick it out until it’s over. Unless it gets to feel too uncomfortable. We will see. I will let you know.

2. We’ve had a couple hot days, the drippy kind, and then today there was a lot of rain. Everything is growing. My new purple cone flower is in full bloom. The accidental pot of soybeans is pale green and could use a shot of Miracle-Gro.

3. The kids are down this weekend. They are staying in town at Deb’s sister’s house. Her sister and family are Nascar fans and have gone to a race in Indianapolis. So the kids have plenty of room - and air conditioning. The county fair is on and they went there today between downpours. They are going to a movie in Decorah tonight. I think it might be The Secret Life of Pets.
   Meanwhile Hans is rusticating with us. He’s getting the in an out and in and out things down. Creative creature that he is.

4. The dozer man came calling this morning - pretty early. The dogs barked loud and fairly fierce but he was not scared. Jim wanted rocks moved from the pasture where a few years ago’s big flood deposited them to the barnyard where he has plans for more concrete. Turns out there will be more work to move them than it’s worth. It will be easier to have new rock hauled in. At least that is how I understood it. If it turns out I’m wrong, I’ll let you know.

5. I am extremely happy with Hillary’s choice of VP candidate. At first I thought who in the world is Tim Kaine but then I looked him up and found him to be likeable and capable. The Virginia Senator is 58, was born in St.Paul MN. His father was a welder. He met his wife at Harvard where he went to law school. His wife’s father Linwood Holton was a Republican governor of Virginia in 1970. He sent his kids to an integrated school. He has three kids, one of whom is named Woody. He’s Catholic and prochoice politically. He has done the right thing about guns. His wife has a resume. Her brother is Woody Holton who among other things is a biographer of Abigail Adams. The wiki article is quite good. And today I read a lot of really positive response to him. Good deal, huh?

6. I’ve been reading about Michael Jordan and Mother Teresa. A rather unlikely couple I admit. I have a huge book David Halberstam wrote about Jordan and I’ve looked at the pictures and skimmed some and then I of course went to the net for more pictures and what wiki had to say. I am not much of a sports fan - at first I had a really terrible time telling the difference between Michael Jordon and Magic Johnson. I mean what’s the deal with having basketball stars of the same era with such similar names? At first I thought the book was about both of them.... oh god how obtuse can I get? But then I worked on the Jordan part of it and I have him fairly well separated. I have not gone looking for Magic Johnson lore. Next week.
   I have Christopher Hitchens’ cutely titled Missionary Position. A lot of it is about money. Mother T took in a lot of it but she was not interested in using it for good. There is a rather chilling section about her writing to the judge who was going to sentence crooked money guy Charles Keating. Keating had given her a large donation (wiki says 1.25 million dollars). The prosecutor replied to Mother Teresa suggesting she return the money since it had been stolen from Keating’s investors. She did not reply.

7. These are long bullets.

8. I bought a large seeded watermelon today. It’s cooling in the fridge. I expect to try it out tomorrow when the kids come out for either fancy sandwiches or pasta and marinara and Fareway Italian sausage.
   I also got a new box of wine. I again got the expensive kind - though to be fair, Fareway doesn’t have a large selection of boxed wine. Last time I got it because it was the kind we used to make cooler signs for at the cooler place. It has a graphic of a splash of wine going into a glass. I liked it last time because it had a really nice tap. I prefer box wines because they last a long time and when they are finally gone I can just burn the box on the burn pile. No bottles to have to decide whether to keep because they are pretty or to recycle because they are glass.

9. Hans is lying on the floor beside me. He is emanating a bit and I just called him out on it. I suppose that’s not fair. He is a dog after all and he has no bad intentions. I can see the bottoms of his feet. They are pink and black and delicate. He doesn’t have Gracie’s rough thick gravel road pads. He will be coming down to spend a week with us in a couple weeks while the family goes north to a cabin on a lake. He’s fine with those plans and so are we.

10. I have clothes on the clothesline. They must have soaked up gallons of rain. Tomorrow it’s supposed to clear off and I suppose they will dry out. They should be really nicely soft-water rinsed.

Have a good rest of the weekend, friends. Be good, and have fun and don’t work too hard.

(if I find my photobucket photos, I’ll come back and put them in)

ps. or

1. I discovered a new writer. When I went to check the Hitchens book out at Wiki I saw that the forward was written by Thomas Mallon and there was a link to his wiki article too. Turns out Mallon is an interesting writer himself. A self-described gay Republican - well why not? - he’s written a series of historical novels and non-fiction books about diary writing, plagiarism and letter writing. And - are you ready? - he ghostwrote Dan Quayle’s memoir- Standing Firm. Updike praised him. Anyone read anything of his? I’m going to be looking for his stuff at my favorite used book haunts.

Last updated July 23, 2016