It's Christmas Village time!
Some years ago, for Christmas, I painted the background scenes for Wil. They
are from places in our hometown. I gifted him the various buildings over time.
Mount Mansfield and Casey's Knob (sledding hill) shown here.
are from places in our hometown. I gifted him the various buildings over time.
Mount Mansfield and Casey's Knob (sledding hill) shown here.
Good morning, blog.
ReplyDeleteHallo Cat! A good morning indeed!! I slept deeply for 7.25 hours last night and feel so much better!! 🤩
DeleteOh, that's wonderful! Amazing how much difference a good night's sleep makes, isn't it?
DeleteTruly! On the bad days I drag and have an upper backache between the shoulder blades. On the good days I am full of energy and buzz around getting things done while I can. Yesterday my average for the week was 4.6 hours per night. Today it bounced up to 5.2 hours per night. Still not enough, but heading in a better direction, for sure.
DeleteFrom my Inbox, from Yale Climate Connections:
ReplyDeleteThe 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially ended Sunday, after zero U.S. hurricane landfalls for the first time in 10 years. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised President Donald Trump for the accomplishment: “You kept the hurricanes away,” she said. “We appreciate that.” (I’m pretty sure she meant it as a joke. I hope it was a joke?)
It was a weird end to a bananas season that featured DOGE layoffs of Hurricane Hunters (rescinded after public backlash over the potential to degrade forecasts), a FEMA administrator who told agency staff he wasn’t aware that the U.S. even has a hurricane season (that guy resigned in November), and the horrifying devastation in Jamaica from Category 5 Hurricane Melissa – one of the three Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic this season.
Trump and Noem said earlier this year that they planned to dismantle FEMA and turn disaster recovery over to the states. They’ve since publicly walked back that plan, but as Paul Krugman pointed out this week, in practice, states haven’t been getting the help they’ve asked for under Trump.
“He is drastically scaling back federal emergency aid, even for communities in which the need for federal assistance is overwhelming,” Krugman wrote.
The problem for states is that the disaster recovery math simply doesn’t work, as Sam Harrington reported: “every expert Yale Climate Connections spoke with shuddered at the thought of any state experiencing a storm like Katrina without FEMA’s coordination and checkbook. Katrina’s costs topped $125 billion in 2005. The state of Louisiana’s total budget that year was $17.5 billion.”
Best of luck to all of us in the next hurricane season, I guess?
– Sara Peach, Editor-in-Chief
We made it down to -7°F last night.
ReplyDeleteBRRR! T'is the season, I guess. When I checked at 9:00 this morning, the Weather Channel said the current temperature was a balmy 14, with high projected for a positively tropical 28. Fortunately, I didn't have to go out till around 1:00, by which time it must have been at or very near the high. With proper winter garb, it was quite pleasant, especially with the sunshine. I actually didn't need gloves coming out of the doctor's. But, there's no doubt Old Man Winter has moved in.
DeleteTrump's symptoms, bruised hand, frequent MRIs, sleepiness, all point to regular infusions of lecanemab. That is a drug to treat early Alzheimers, and the MRIs are to scan for possible brain bleeds. Susan
ReplyDeleteAh, but it wasn't an MRI this last time. It was a CT scan, and an unusually thorough one at that.
DeleteVideo: - Click
It never ceases to amaze me how people have yet to truly learn that coverups always get found out.
DeleteOops! Sorry for the wonky link.
DeleteI was listening to a dementia doctor talk about how Trump was following the exact path of his patients. He gave him 3-5 months before it got so bad, he wouldn’t be able to continue. Susan (from another person's comment)
ReplyDeleteOne can only hope.
DeleteI like your painting very much, listener. Susan
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan! I did all the paintings for the Village backgrounds in secret, and surprised Wil with them one Christmas.
DeleteFYI: The CDC has come out saying that all persons 65 and up and all persons who are immunocompromised should have TWO Covid shots this year, 2 to 6 months apart. Our local news had a feature on it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteSo, today I visited and called 5 pharmacies, all of whom said they didn't yet have clearance from their corporate HQ to administer a second dose before 6 months. It didn't even matter that I had written permission from my doctor to have it, though the CDC makes a big deal about saying you need to go with the guidance from your doctor.
I called the hospital pharmacy and finally found someone intelligent and aware who was willing, but they only had Moderna and we didn't have a good reaction to Moderna the time we used it. Turns out our regular pharmacy, which told me yesterday they couldn't do it, was willing to do it today! So Wil and I got our second Covid booster, 3 months after the first.
Health officials urge 2nd COVID vaccine dose for older adults, immunocompromised
DeleteVermont is monitoring wastewater and seeing a large uptick in Covid there.
DeleteThe med my ENT doc has me on needed to be renewed. My insurance won't cover it, so my doc recommended a pharmacy two hours away that would compound it and fill it for about half the usual out of pocket cost...! I ordered it Monday, needing it by Friday. They shipped it Wednesday, but it still hasn't come. I got the tracking info and found out it isn't coming until Monday. I only have enough for tonight and tomorrow morning. So the pharmacy is going to let me pick up 48 hours' worth to get me to Monday. Yippee...we get to drive two hours each way for this! Could have just gone and picked it up instead of having it mailed! Ah well. At least it's solvable. And if I have a bad night tonight and am achy tomorrow, Wil says he'll drive down and get it for me himself. (He's a keeper.)
ReplyDelete