Another Morning Ride...

 

Ebike today, rather than a motorized conveyance.  Another beautiful morning; it was 70º when I left the house.  For all the grousing I do about the summer heat, this time of year is pretty darn nice (just wish it lasted longer).  As the northland moves towards being "the frozen northland," the autumn days here are welcome.

I have a bit of a "route," that takes me through a large city park, then south and west through another neighborhood.  This keeps me away from the majority of the traffic.

 Photos taken with my Oakley Vanguard Meta glasses.

 

X Max the Spot...

 

Yes, I took the weekend off.  No blog post here for 2 whole days.  Everything is fine here, thanks for asking.  Joan's fine, I'm fine, the cats are fine.  "The neighbors" are fine.  We're all fine.

No, that title isn't a typo.  I took Joan's Xmax out this morning.  I'll say it again: that is a fun scoot; faster than my Burgman, more nimble than my CTX.

 A glorious morning.  Sunshine and bright blue sky.  Comfortably cool.  I left the house just after 9:15, so there was almost no traffic on the surface streets.  Even less on the mountain.  

The scoot...

 The happy rider...

 Great way to start the day!

Music at Allan's today...

 

This is not the Hip Replacements, or the Brothers MIM.  I call this group "the Allan Lindsay Project," or "the local guys."  (3 of us are within 5 minutes of each other.)

Some background on this - we would generally get together every other week.  Allan's wife Carole, was suffering from a terminal illness, and it has been a couple months since we've gotten together to jam.  Allan's wife passed about two weeks ago... and he invited us guys to his place today to make some music.

The mood was not jovial, as you'd expect, but I think each of us wanted to be there for Allan.  We made some music.  I took a few photos...

Allan above, Bob below...

Joe above, Tony below...

Yours truly making a selfie...

 While taking a break, I offered Bob a try with my PRS...

 Bob also plays guitar.

This is a good bunch of guys.  The music is not my style, but it's another circle of friends.  I think I speak for all the guys in that this was being there for Allan.

 

 

The Little One...

 

Talking about Stella?  Well, she is "the little one," but I'm talking about the new, more portable catio.  Both of the cats are good with it, but Stella seems to think she is "camping" when in it...

 That is her long, lean, jungle cat look above.  She is good in it in the house, or outside...

 That will be good when we're in the van.  A lot going on right now, so who knows when we'll get out in the van next.  Murphy, being the big boy he is, gets to be out without a leash in our yard...

 Yes, that is a bit blurry - it was early morning, just before the sun came over the mountain, and he was moving right along.

This evening, I have been entrusted with taking care of the new Guide Dog puppy, Natty (Natalia).  She is young enough that she needs frequent "potty breaks."  After giving her a kong (a hard rubber container that you put food in and freeze it), we went outside for one of those p-breaks.  She goes on command.  It is part of her training.  I have to say that I am impressed with how advanced she is for her young age (just 4 months old) - she walks great on the leash, knows basic commands, and seems to take joy in doing good.

She is the puppy of one of the Guide Dogs that Steph and Dan trained that is in the breeding program.  Good genetics.

With Steph and Dan out for the evening, I sat on the couch and played some mellow acoustic music for their cats and Natty.  An attentive audience.

I didn't take my phone with me for this, but here is a photo of Natty taken not too long ago...

 Yeah, that was for Halloween - Natty was a Wendy's soft drink cup.  She quite patient, too.

 

A Blue Tsunami?

 

I generally keep politics out of this blog.  Well, other than to say "Vote for none of the above."

I don't think the results of this election show that the country favors the democrats - I see this as a "mandate" that people are fed up with their elected officials.  Both sides.  Will it change things?  We can hope, but I don't have a lot of faith in the political system.

Something needs to change.  People are tired of the rancor.  They are tired of politicians who think things are good as long as "their side wins."  It shouldn't be about beating the other side, it should always be about doing what is right for the American public.  High gas prices are not good for people who are working to get by.  Nor ever-increasing food prices.  People are fed up.  And this election is a sign of that.

Will the President "get it"?  I doubt it.  Will the legislators?  Not if they think a win in this election is for "more of the same, but now for the other side."

A change is long over-due. 

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Music today with the Brothers MIM (the big group); 6 of us there: Mark, Ron, Danny, Gil, Carl, and me.  A good time making music.  We took turns picking what song to play.  We're a bit heavy on guitar: 4 guitars, 1 bass, 1 percussion.   Good friends.

 

O-Dark:30

 

We woke up around 4:30(ish) to find the power out.  My first thought: check on Steph and Dan, since they have to get ready to go to work.  I went next door, and they were feeding their cats... by flashlight.  I was concerned that they might miss their alarm (it's very rare that we have to set an alarm). 

Steph's first thought when they discovered the situation: "Someone has cut power to the house, and they are going to break in.  Well, until they looked out and saw no lights anywhere."  Dan's first thought: "Armageddon - it's related to the election."  They had already checked SRP's site - it is localized in our vicinity and power should be back on around 3:00 am.  And then moved back to around 6:00 am.

It is 5:44 am as I am writing this.  If the power isn't back on soon, I, too, will be feeding cats by flashlight.  And, the power just came on... it is not quiet in our house as all the things connected to power beep and flash their blinking "12:00."

"So, how are you writing this if the power just came on?"  Thanks for asking.  The laptop was plugged in overnight and the internet connection is being provided by my iPhone hotspot.  No idea how long it will take the whole house router to reset and turn on.

So, time for me to go feed kitties.  Fortunately, not by flashlight, and with some air moving thanks to the ceiling fans.  At least, it isn't hot right now, so it stayed pleasant in the house.

Oh, and I'm happy to report no one broke in to kill us, and there appears to be no Armageddon in the making. 

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Oh, yeah - and, it's Election Day.  Over a million early and mail-in votes have been counted in Arizona.  Of course, no reveal on how those votes are going.  We'll see how things shake out.  In the meantime, the political ads on TV are still going.  Yes, with the power on, we have TV.  And internet... all those modern conveniences. 

 

 

One More Day...

 

One more day of all the political ads.  All that money spent to convince no one.  Millions spent to get a job that pays $174,000 (the annual pay for a US Senator).  Each side trying to convince the undecided that their side isn't as bad as the other side.  Each side blaming the other side for high prices for everything.  Neither side saying what their intent is once in office... only blaming the other side for what is wrong.

What is wrong is the incredible waste of money to try to secure "a win for our side."  All that money could be spent to improve our roads and bridges, educate our kids, and pay down our huge national debt.  A debt that each side blames the other for.

In places that allow early voting and voting by mail, the numbers are averaging about 1/4 of the eligible voters.  While these mid-terms are expected to have a higher turnout than usual, all that money spent hasn't influenced the majority of voters to participate.

Brewster's Millions, a film starring Richard Prior from 1985 had it right...