School started about a month ago. So has the seasonal passing of pathogens by children. The usual colds, stomach viruses and maladies without names appeared, and now a great niece that lives close has strep throat. So, the entire family will now be exposed, including a toddler and an infant. My wife, like me, will now avoid them all, keep the hand sanitizer close, and hope we haven't been exposed to any of the illnesses that are now prevalent.
Bleh!
FEMA is feckless. It's a ponderous bureaucracy filled with people that have a comfortable salary, good benefits, ridiculous political beliefs, and willing to use the money they have for anything other than what it was intended. If you don't believe this, think about how taxpayer money allocated for helping those in a disaster is being funneled into the traitorous effort to help illegal invaders. That alone should be convincing, and a less polite society would be rounding up traitors for prosecution.
I was reflecting on how things change. I now live where I once hunted. Pastures once filled with cattle are now cookie-cutter testaments to urban sprawl, small rural highways are now six lane streets in congested areas, once clear night skies are dimmed by electric lighting that removes the splendor of the heavens, and the creep of "civilization" is closer than I feel comfortable with.
I'm now at the age of my grandfather (who was in the Army Air Corp during WW1) when the first men landed on the moon. He, too, eventually lived where he once hunted, and watched the evolution of flight from fabric covered airplanes to supersonic jets. Communication during his youth was by mail, or telegraph. Telephones eventually arrived, but a party line was the usual luxury of a telephone in a home. He lived to see mobile phones, but was gone before the modern smart phones were introduced.
Unless some miracle method to stop aging arrives, my time here is down to maybe a few decades. It's a sobering thought, and at this time, I'm in good enough health to have not reached the point passing on will be a welcome relief. I'll enjoy it while it lasts, and count my blessings. Age has brought the realization all the "things" so cherished when young are burdens during later life, and the simple things, when observed without the bustle of a career, are things to be cherished.
Sleeping last night was waking two, or three, times for no reason. I blame it on knowing I would have jury duty, and since I retired, having a set time to awaken does that to my sleep. So, I was out of bed at around 4:00 am, which gave me plenty of time to make breakfast, drink coffee, and go outside to see if I would have the opportunity to observe Tsuchchinshan-Atlas.
The site linked gives a real time perspective of viewing times. This morning, even with some trees blocking my view to the East, there was enough darkness, and a transparent sky, to view the comet before the Sun brightened the sky. It was barely visible to the naked eye, although it was for a few minutes. My binoculars gave the best view, and it definitely looked like a comet. I woke my wife, she was happy to see something she has never seen, and within a few minutes, the sky was too bright to observe any longer. It wasn't nearly as observable as Comet West in the '70's, but it was a treat.
Jury duty was all morning, a Voir Dire I thought was too long, and a $20 bill for my four hours of time. If I had been chosen for the jury, tomorrow would have yielded more money. My county pays $60 a day, if serving beyond the first day. It was an interesting experience, and I didn't have any facts to determine if the defendant is guilty, but in Texas, a felony charge of driving while intoxicated is after two other convictions. The defense attorney was, according to what I could surmise, pushing for the traffic stop being illegal, which should remove any other evidence from use in the trial. He might be successful. The only real question I have is who struck me from the jury. Was it the prosecutor? Or, was it the defense attorney. I don't know, but would like to know why.
A family member was taken by another family member to the hospital to determine why they're having severe abdominal pain. They went in this morning. As of 9:00 tonight, they're still there waiting for results from a CAT scan. Hopefully it's all good news, and a simple problem easily fixed. My wife is not at peace, and worrying about both. Neither is young, and stress leads to fatigue.
So, Monday has been a busy day, a nap didn't do much for rest, and it's looking like it will be long evening, if not a long night. Time will tell, and what will happen is unknown.
After it was all said, and done, the abdominal pain was not due to a serious condition. It's some type of after-effect of hernia surgery from around a year ago. It's not dangerous, can be surgically treated, and the final result a clean bill of health.
I was looking at the National Hurricane Center 7 day forecast. Something in the Caribbean is anticipated to form, and will enter the Gulf of Mexico. At this time of the year, with the change in weather patterns, such systems are more likely to travel to the Eastern Gulf, which will lead to another storm affecting Florida. They don't need it, and the states just inundated with so much rain don't need it either. Maybe it will fizzle out, and nobody is affected.
