Milestones and Millstones

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

Well. That had to be the world’s most blah milestone birthday. Though to be fair Dan and I and I myself are cursed. He’s not. He always manages to have a decent birthday for his milestone birthdays. Mine…. something always happens and our anniversaries… don’t get me started.

For mine, Dan wasn’t feeling… well, for health reasons, he couldn’t do much of anything, which kind of torpedoed my idea of driving out on a grand excursion. And of course it was too cold to even take a long walk outside. So the only thing I could was cheat on my diet and gain 5 lbs. How I don’t know. It’s not like we ate five pounds worth of food, even combined. OTOH I did walk past a pastry display case, and you know how that goes.

I’ve been kind of down since. Not depressed — well how do you tell from the background depression of now being sure we’re in for a hard landing, and just waiting for the shoe to drop? — precisely. Just sad and very tired, suddenly.

Part of it of course is the milestone. Very old people in the village when I was little were in their sixties. Granted, my family in general lived longer, but being the youngest child of almost the youngest child, I didn’t consciously meet any of those. Consciously the first time I met an eighty year old I was in my teens.

But no matter how much I tell myself even my MIL who was known as an anti-health fanatic (not on purpose. She just had issues keeping to diet and exercise) lived past eighty. My father and FIL are both in their nineties and ticking away, as is mom in her late eighties (and her genetic lottery is far worse than mine. I take (thank heavens) after dad’s side.)

Yet, still, in the back of my mind, “sixty is old people age”. I’m starting to understand why part of the rejuv therapy in Heinlein’s stories was hypno therapy. I mean, blood test results (still pursuing one very strange anomaly, but probably not fatal even at worse) I am now in better health (by far) than I was at 40. Coming to low altitude has apparently resolved the pre-diabetes thing, so even though I’d been trifling with corn chips and fries, I was still not even close to pre-diabetic. Pretty much center range.

The weight is ridiculous, but I’m dealing with that.

And yet the pall remains upon the mind. Sixty. That’s old people age.

And here I want to reassure everyone there is not even the slightest idea of laying down and dying. I have books to write, and the sense of purpose will keep me going regardless.

As I’m dealing forcefully with the irrational parts of our minds, I started applying it to the country’s situation.

Look, I expected the fraud. What I didn’t expect was the right to accept it, and roll over. I guess I have better opinion of my fellow pundits than they deserve. Though of course, I’m also working for myself, and even I thought it would be risky, in terms of losing readers to come right out and say “it’s fraud.” Imagine how much worse it is when your outfit (and I think all of them did) said “you can’t say that.”

Meh. I’ll tell the obvious truth — unless you want to believe that yeah, Biden is so beloved he won with more votes than any other president and lost the fewer seats in the mid term. Sorry boys. Say that with a straight face — and shame the devil.

Also the steady drumbeat of “You can’t keep harping on that, you’ll lose readers” reminded me of “you’ll starve in the gutter without me” every time I left an agent or publishing house.

Bah. That’s not how I work. Never was, won’t start now.

But in a way, for those of us who are awake and aware and have seen the fraud and the roll over, there is also “well, nothing we can do now. Just go hide and lick our wounds” or “erase all traces of my opinions and move to Timbuktu.”

It’s not like that. Just like I turned sixty, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to do a Buffy vampire, turning wrinkly, then dust. That’s what the mind jumps to, because the mind is an idiot.

But yeah “you can vote yourself into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out” is true mostly. Most countries also don’t vote themselves in. Socialists and communists don’t care what you voted for, they’re going to fraud themselves in. As for shooting ourselves out…

We are better equipped for that than any other country ever.

That is perhaps our most salient difference. And yea “but if we don’t use them.” Well, that would be the best use of them. All those nightmares y’all keep having? Yeah, if we weren’t armed to the teeth it’s highly likely that they’d already be rolling relocations, if not cattle cars.

The consciousness they’re dealing with a heavily armed population is keeping their depredations to what they can still lie about/keep from the general public.

And even then, things leak out.

I said above that the chance at a soft landing is gone. It probably is, for a completely soft landing. There is going to be unpleasantness. I just don’t know to what degree or where or when. Probably not all over the country. Probably initiated by the other side, under the belief it’s their last chance at a real win where they get to do to us as they’re afraid to.

But–

But there’s still a chance at a softer landing. Part of this is exposing how bad the fraud was, and getting people to understand the machines/early voting/mail in are soft traps, that lead to more fraud. We need to turn public sentiment against those, and fast. It’s been turning, but not fast enough for my taste.

The other part of it is to be prepared.

You don’t know where or when the shoe will drop. If it drops on you, be prepared to survive.

It’s like sixty. Rumors of our demise are grossly exaggerated. We’re a singular nation, and the proceedings from here on will be unlikely.

We’re in uncharted territory, and it’s scary. But it means we’re not dead yet.

Like with sixty, I’m going to shrug my shoulders and keep battling on in every way I can, as long as I can.

Be not afraid.

131 thoughts on “Milestones and Millstones”

  1. Dear Sarah,

    You are heroic —,and I’m a heroine addict (!).

    Here’s sometime remind you of your best self:

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  2. Hey, congrats on 60! I’ve got you by 10 years, and all I can suggest is keep on keeping on!!! We’re still here, which is the big thing. Can we pass on what we know? I don’t know if the youngsters care, but all we can do is try… Love ya, Lady!

  3. Congratulations on 60! I’ve actually enjoyed them much more than I expected, go figure. But still, what a long strange trip it’s been!

  4. I’m forty today which is another milestone. I’m actually looking forward to my forties. As regarding current events, the best I can do is pray.

      1. Credits for “Spirit Of Liberty”.

        I wrote the lyrics and I sang the male vocals.
        The melody is “The Wedding Song” by Noel Paul Stookey — “Paul” of “Peter, Paul, And Mary”.
        Chris Garcia produced it. He has won a Latin Grammy and two American Grammys.

        Thanks for the kind words.

        Cordially,

        Craig Franklin

    1. Only half a score older for me, and while I can still do most of what I could as a younger person, the body is less willing to forget the experience.

      I’m 17 years older than my father was when he passed away, and 29 years younger than my mother when she passed. I’ve loaded the dice as much as I’m willing to do so, in order to get closer to Mom’s age, God willing.

      The next few years promise to be interesting, in the Chinese sense, but we’re more or less ready. The feds and the state promise to be PITAs, and somehow this feels like a campaign promise they will keep. Sigh. We have to make it as much a pain for them as they try for us.

  7. I hit 60 six years ago. Even though I’m officially “old”, I don’t feel all that old. It’s more of a joking, “I’m getting old”, when the body is a bit creakier than I expected. But there’s a lot of life left to live, and I’m getting on with that. So yeah, it’s old, but it’s not old in the way we remember from our youth. We’ve got a ways to go to get to the frailty that 60 years used to mean.

    1. I hit the 60 + 6 last month. I do not get to say “I’m old”. Mom is 88 and doing great (although she is giving up driving I-5 and other long distances, her call out of the blue, do not know what triggered it … what that means now, IDK). She is off to Florida on Wednesday for a cruise that, with other stops, goes through the Panama Chanel to LA. Hubby is only 4 years older for 3 months. He is hitting milestone birthdays sooner so it is old hat by the time I get there (be it 30 or 70).

  8. Happy birthday, Sarah! I’m a few years behind you, but–I know the feeling and the mental gymnastics.

    I think I’m in agreement with you on “they know they can’t get away with it, but of course, somewhere somehow, they’re gonna try” and it’s going to get ugly very very fast there when they do, but the results should be instructive and dissuade similar attempts. Or maybe they’ll learn from what went wrong and try again, and–we could wind up with 15-100 versions of that depending on where and how it goes pear-shaped.

    But I also keep figuring in that they’ve coopted the military brass at high levels, and that could also make things interesting, as well as all the arms and ammunition bought over the years by the IRS of all agencies (and a few others).

    I’m really not looking forward to finding out what they expect to use that for, but I do look forward to seeing them realize that they shouldn’t have done that and someone putting a decisive end to their foolishness.

  9. I’m seeing more and more of the conservative commenting space saying, “it’s time for us to stuff the hell out of the drop boxes next times.”

    The idea is to overwhelm this utterly insecure system into total collapse where there is no way to say the election is clean.

    They won’t stop cheating until we break their cheating model.

    As Bret Weinstein says, don’t be bothered one single iota about lying to the totalitarian scum.

    2. I don’t like that. Now, the idea of having folks in some non-extradition country crack the rigged-to-hell-and back vote-fraud machines and just make them appear as ridiculous as they really are? That has some appeal. “Wait… 69,000 vote for It’sTheFraudStupid?”

  10. My Dad always tells health professionals to treat him like he’s in his 30’s. “Inside, I’m 30,” he says. It always changes their view of him, sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot.

    He’ll be turning 95 in May and though he’s in the VA home, he’s still 30 inside. Sometimes I can adopt his sunny nature, sometimes I can’t. But I try.

    1. Good for your dad! I just turned 80, but I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Mostly this works, but the physical aches and pains are a reminder.

  11. When, many years hence, your grandkids ask you, “What did you do in the Great American Restoration, Grandma?” you will, with chin up and eyes bright, be able to say, “I called out the tyrants’ lies, I kept faith with my oath to the Constitution and bore unflagging public witness to the light, me and your grandpa both.” Yes, you. And a lot of your friends, we helped each other.

    What we are witnessing is, and I know there is a better term for it out there somewhere, the Kitty Genovese effect. The Republic is being raped and murdered before our eyes, all the wile we think, “Somebody should do something. I should do something.” All the while, paralyzed, we look for leadership that is idiotic, sclerotic or absent altogether. Nobody has a plan, the only plan we had has not been drilled in centuries.

    Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper #28: “If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual State.
    …
    The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair. The usurpers, clothed with the forms of legal authority, can too often crush the opposition in embryo.”

    <a href=”https://unpcts.biz/listing/drink-to-renew-the-american-re>Keep calm and Restore the Republic

    1. Kitty Genovese’s neighbors did quite a lot, and the police did almost nothing, and the rapist managed to do what he wanted. And then the news media lied about the neighbors in order to raise a ruckus, and to tell women not to bother resisting.

  12. Why are you surprised by republican ass-hattery?

    Left swamp, Right swamp, all the same swamp.

    -This- is why they all hate Trump with the fury of a supernova. He isn’t on any swamp team. He is on Team Trump, as he sees it. They, all of them, are swamp to be drained, paved, and developed into something positive. Thus they must destroy him, or learn to code.

    We are fortunate that Trump aligns approximately with many Usain goals. Because if he gets to be swampy, we are likely to be …… disappointed.

    He wants another try at drainage. I wish him success, as I haven’t heard anyone else with that mindset. Even DeSantis seems to be more a “survive and succeed” type than a “nuke it from orbit” type. I could be wrong. He does seem to have partially un-swamped parts of Florida politics. And those are very swampy indeed.

    Pun intended.

    So I expect the GOPe to redouble the sabotage. They will overtly aid and cheer Stalin before they accept a Trump term 2.

  13. Arizona’s AG has announced an investigation of Maricopa’s (mis) handling of the vote, and has demanded various things relating to the election. Might be good news.

  14. Good one. And I think the graphic works well. I have a large sack of grain that I bought for about a hundred bucks. But I don’t have a mill stone. I’ve been attending a lot of local garage sales but haven’t lucked out yet.

    Anyway, congrats again on achieving 60 years in this realm. Hopin’ you get 40 more. (I’m hoping for 26 more to break the family record. Wonderful Aunt Annabelle got to 99 before she moved on.)

    And the diet thing… Yeah, I swim, walk, ride my exercycle and I even lift weights. But I’ve never been able to get the body I had at forty back. Not even the sixty year old one. And you mentioned my favorite ‘word,’ as Joe Bye-done would say, “Baked Goods!” Love ’em. I only eat about a pound of candy a year, most around Halloween. It’s just ‘all right.’ But Cinnamon buns, donuts, Bear Claws, oh… to die for. And if we eat them, we probably will, way before our ‘past due’ dates. And every time I go into the local Smiths market, I marvel at the amounts of sugary sugar treats, the placement (lots of it where you queue to pay for your groceries) and the amounts. Stalingrad Siege amounts. And now we’re moving into the Season of Over-Eating, and family get togethers. Well, I ain’t knocking it, just sayin.” Anyway, try to cheer up. To this 74 year old, a 60 year old woman is a young chick.

    So, I’m reading your article and this jumps out at me, “I said above that the chance at a soft landing is gone.” My inner child began grabbing at my sleeve, saying, “tell her… That’s Crossing Over… you wrote a book about that.” And the little twerp is right. I did. Don’t worry, though, I’m not gonna link to it. Just say that I put it on sale for the next week or so for a buck. It’s about Americans who are fighting to keep their heads in the sand, you know, in denial about what’s going on around them. They’re not Preppers, nowhere near it. I like to think I’m prepared. But I don’t think I have enough Span, dried beans, and rice in the garage to qualify as a Prepper. So be it.

    Anyway, as you would say, ‘be not depressed. Yes, we’re going through uncertain times. But some important people are aware of that and coming up with ways to deal with it. I saw a post about Michelle Obama’s new book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times. It’s got 4.6 out of 5 stars, so you know it’s good. (I tend to average about 3.8 with my pedestrian work, but maybe someday I’ll get up there with Michelle. And, you can pick up a copy for only twenty bucks. The other thing, the book is number two! I’m mean, Tolstoy, Agatha Christie, these old dead whiteys couldn’t carry Michelle’s fountain pen.

    Some quotes from the reviews:

    “Just when I thought I couldn’t love her more”
    “Great ideas for everyone as life brings struggles!”
    “Michelle, I am so thankful that you and Barack were brought into our lives.

    “I couldn’t put it down! A glimpse into the real struggles and challenges of such a dynamic human provided me with tools to cope with my own internal challenges.”

    And finally, Sarah, I think you will especially appreciate this one…

    “Michelle Obama has a way of writing that makes it feels like she’s right there in the room with you, holding your hand and telling you things are going to be ok.”

    1. “Michelle Obama has a way of writing that makes it feels like she’s right there in the room with you, holding your hand and telling you things are going to be ok.”

      Run away fast!

    2. Oh, Carl, I WILL spew!
      The librarians are responsible for a lot of this – my area libabry system bought HUNDREDS of her first book. Of course, all the Woke rushed to borrow it, pushing it to the top.
      Funny, just a short time later, the books languished on the shelves.

    3. Verified purchaser? Or bots? Whether the bots are real people or not. If they did not spend Their Own Money on it, the review does not count. Of coarse just because the bought it (virtual signature) does not mean they read it. Review has to have a significant quote or two.

      1. Just a few clicks and keystrokes, and the sales figures and reviews are whatever AMZ says they are.

        No need to game the system, Amazon declared its political affiliation years ago.

      2. Maybe. I recall when one of Hillary’s books was released, a number of people — yours truly included — logged onto Amazon and posted glowing, five-star reviews. Mine praised the book in extravagant language bordering on hyperbole. I don’t remember the details but the last paragraph went something like:

        This book is so good I couldn’t put it down. Really. In fact, every time I tried my phone would ring and someone on the other end would mention the name “Vincent Foster” in a sinister tone.

    4. Use a grain grinder with good steel blades instead of stones.

      Stone grinding produces grit, hard to remove, which wears down teeth. This is why cultures that heavily rely on stone ground grains have a sharp drop off in survival around 40-45 years, as that is when the teeth go bad from the grit. Some cultures that use particularly coarse, abrasive, and fragile stones can show that trend in the low 30s.

      Ouch.

      1. Thanks. I know about the grit and the teeth. I won’t be around long enough to grind my teeth down. And I like the traditional mill stone, but then I’d have to get a little donkey or something. Actually, I went to a sort of junk yard and found an old cast iron meat grinder that will grind my grain. There are good electric grinders available I’m sure, but if we’re grinding our own, the power is probably out.

    6. Michelle Obama book? A certain quotation comes to mind…

      “From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.” ― Groucho Marx

  15. More like “Michelle Obama has a way of writing that makes it feels like she’s right there in the room with you, holding your hand ” while Barack picks your pocket.

    Terrifying.

  16. As someone who hit 60 myself this year, I can relate. Maybe in my fifties I was the best I was going to be mentally and physically and now body parts are doing the equivalent of falling onto the floor as I walk, and there is no pretending that a better diet or even more sleep will reverse the decline, or even hold it at bay. That said, I was ok with the milestone birthday until the midterms. Now I realize at sixty, one is too old to raise the standard, rally the troops, start a movement, etc. But you’re old enough to know what normal/constitutional is, and that juxtaposition with incapacity is depressing. Especially when some of your enemies are waiting for you and your standards of truth and Justice to die off so they can throw you down the memory hole and then have their way, permanently. ….are we feeling better yet?

    2. Ben Franklin was 69 years old when the Revolutionary War kicked off. In a world much harder to live in.

      Sixty isn’t old. And if JiminAlaska can handle heating with wood in Alaska winters at four score and change, the rest of us better live up to at least that standard before we whine that we’re “too old”.

  18. My problem between the soft and hard landings is I do not want what will come from a hard landing involving the 4 ballot box. That never ends well. Unfortunately neither does the head in the sand do nothing approach. It is not looking good, either way.

    News on Oregon measure #114. Firearms are not scarce, yet. But background checks are way backed up, as in two to 3 weeks. Rumors are that if one has a CCL they are going to the head of the line for the days input of applications. If you take in your passport that could jump you ahead, for the days submission, of those who didn’t. But either way, still behind everyone from prior days. And … getting worse.

    2. Update on #114.

      Lawsuit by County Sheriff and two other parties challenging the clip capacity filed in Federal Court on 11/19/2022.

      First of many predicted incoming.

        1. So. Now the background checks at the state level has crashed, and been down for more than a few days …

          There is at least one large firearm outlet that is using the “three day no answer” to legally transfer purchased firearms. Steps are:
          (1) pay for it,
          (2) fill out and pay for background check,
          (3) seller sends in the background check,
          (4) when approved, seller it transfers firearm to you,
          (5) if not approved, refund issued by seller,
          (6) but if no answer after 3 days legally can transfer without official “approval”.

          The 3-day rule was to encourage the process to not stall, regardless of volume.

          This outlet is encouraging other firearm outlets to do the same. Something most outlets are reluctant to do given the possible blow back. Even though Technically the outlets are protected legally from the consequences because it is a failure of the system. No one has wanted to test the latter. Now private transfers might be willing to do so. Oregon requires private transfer of firearms to have background checks, easiest is to do so through a firearms outlet; the 3 day “no answer” rule also applies. We will see once it gets down to the wire.

      1. DragonCon is run by wokeists with the pedophile origins to prove it (no, they don’t get a pass given their excuse as why they couldn’t get rid of him was aided and abetted by lots of DC people and genre pros).

        They also view adding “taking experimental drugs” as a reasonable change of contract claims to keep your money and deny admission.

        I live in Atlanta and my once will be my only.

        I’m not surprised by this, but that it took so long.

        1. There were signs pointing the way even before now. Recall their actions during the covidiocy. I seem to remember a kerfluffle or two before then as well.

          The Iron Law strikes again.

        2. Re: “taking experimental drugs” — so if you had the COVID19 shots, you’re not welcome at DragonCon? 😛
          ———————————
          “It’s not a vaccine, it’s not approved, it’s not safe, and it’s not effective. Aside from that, it’s just peachy.”

    1. As of this morning, three rural counties were refusing to verify election results because of the blatant fraud in Maricopa.

  21. I recommend adopting the idea of The Birthday Month. That way, no single day carries the entire burden of The Greatest Day Of The Year, which is what I consider my birthday to be.

    Until I was about 59, my default was suicide when things got difficult. I was programmed for such and didn’t understand it till I got old. Therapy fixed that default. Now, I’m planning well into my 90s with joy. The physical parts of aging can be discouraging, but they are to be expected, and I mostly reject them. I was raised in the outdoors, so I enjoy doing things that will help me get there, including exercise and self care.

    60 begins the decade of “older” before you get to your 70s–that’s old. 🙂 Well done, Sarah. You made it.

    1. From the time he was born until he turned 30, the Reader counted his son’s milestone birthdays instead of his own. Now the Reader will reach three score and ten next year. He guesses he’ll have to notice. While not in bad shape, the Reader isn’t 60 any more.

      1. Well done.
        I confess it breaks my heart a little when an old person (like me) says “getting old sucks!”
        I don’t think it does even though some things about it are unpleasant. I think the culture has poisoned our thinking.

        1. The Reader doesn’t think it sucks, although the 10 minutes spent each morning working his fingers loose from arthritis so he can grip a coffee cup isn’t fun. He does think the decade of his 60s has been one of the most tremulous of his life; only exceeded by his 40s (but that’s another story). Retirement, moving, COVID, son’s heart failure and other health problems have made it a bit of a roller coaster.

          1. I’m so sorry about your son. 😦
            The decade of my 30s was a living hell–I’d just gotten out of the service, and what I found was… discouraging.

  22. California’s Marxist government is doing everything it can to ensure a hard landing:

    https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2022/11/21/report-california-to-ban-older-diesel-trucks-at-ports-by-2025-electric-truck-mandate-by-2035/

    They basically want to strangle the entire supply chain portion that ships into the West Coast.

    Also, keep in mind how many Democratic Party run states have enacted laws that essentially impose whatever California does on their own states.

    Forget whether California wants to secede. The question is how can they be kicked out of the USA.

  23. Dang it Sarah Hoyt! I’m older and fatter than you. With more medical problems and other “baggage.” If we had received your application to feel “down”, we likely would have rejected it for using the wrong color typewriter ink (which hasn’t been made in the last 75 years), the wrong form (the new ones, from 1975, have white originals with pink and off-beige copies).

    So please straighten up and fly right. I just read ADF’s Vanishing Point and realized I liked Deep Pink a lot more.

  24. I’m thinking the hard landing we’ll see is the Democratic party’s internal war when the top people finally die (probably in office, they aren’t the sort of people who hand over power (and blackmail evidence).

    Biden’s 80, Pelosi’s 82, H. Clinton’s 75.

    Yeah, Trump’s 76, but look at the younger politicians getting public awareness.

    Beto and AOC. Think they can take over the machine, or is the machine going to try to turn them into puppets?

    The Republicans have Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis.

    There still a possibility we can stand back and watch the knives come out right after the funerals.

    1. The California cadre of Newsom and Schiff have been put in place by Pelosi who has made it clear that she considers them her successors in the Party. Whether the Party accepts them or not is another matter.

      I think the real question are who are all the career deep-staters going to back and use their surveillance and other powers to push into positions of power. The reason they fought Trump so much and still do is because he is not beholden to them and he isn’t their servant. They are going to make as sure as they possibly can that whoever runs the Party is beholden to them and is their instrument to exercise power.

      Just think of the praetorians in the latter day Roman Empire.

    2. And campaigns can earn donations by selling tickets and popcorn to watch it play out …

      Maybe not, as it is too likely to play out in the public domain.

  25. Sixty is old? You kids don’t know what old is. Why I remember the time General Washington said to me….

    What?

    ( grin)

    2. My coworkers often ask me what it was like working with Ben Tallmadge.

      Then again, they also ask me what it was like writing reports on clay tablets….

    4. Pipsqueak. I suspect you think that the age of the dinosaurs is old.

      You should have tried mountain-climbing when the Appalachians towered like the Himalayas do now, and the first bones and shells were evolving in the ocean (so the Appalachians have absolutely no limestone).

      1. Plenty of limestone in that range. They use it in steelmaking. It’s a major feature of the aquifers.

        The oldest formations are precambrian and mostly metamorphic. Those would be the bits lacking limestone. The rest of the range has eons of overlain sea bottom that formed the vast limestone layers as well as shales and sandstone. Also both the sedimentary and metamorphic coals of Pennsylvania, for example.

        I grew up in that region, and have spelunked some of its limestone caves.

        Some of the defunct limestone mines are now used for storage. The firm is Iron Mountain.

        Once upon a time, I dated a stunning redhead who was a geologist grad student. I took a basic class and did research just to understand her. Geology is cool!

          1. Agree. One of the last classes taken at Beaver U was the first term geology class and lab. Needed credits to take graduation requirements over 203. It was interesting and fun. Continues to contribute to education because of where we prefer to travel and the geology plays a huge part. But the class itself was a huge confidence booster for a number of reasons.

            A huge chunk of that was being recruited as the lab instructor for old fashion reading of aerial photography (back where photos were laid under special glasses that caused the ground relief, and contents, to stand up 3-d on the photo). Areal Photography was a class that geology students did not take until/when/if they went on past their masters degree. The lab TA hadn’t had the class. I had. As a forestry undergrad, I’d had it my sophomore year, and had been using it the last few summers on the job. Not like the class was being taught how to do this (in one lab), more of an introduction. But hauling in the OSU published areal photography lab (class was 100% lab) book, and personal experience tales, enhanced what, why, and how, the topic was important.

            I haven’t been in forestry in the field where areal photography is used for 44 years. With the advancement of digital photography I don’t know if it is even used anymore. But we have seen the glasses in National Park type historical setups.

  26. “California basically wants to strangle the entire supply chain portion that ships into the West Coast.”

    Won’t that cut off a lot of our imports from China? I would think that the CCP might want to buy some California politicians to prevent that.

  27. “California basically wants to strangle the entire supply chain portion that ships into the West Coast.”

    Won’t that cut off a lot of our imports from China? I would think that the CCP might want to buy some California politicians to prevent that.

  29. 68, here. My 50th HS class reunion was last month. They’re posting pix from the event online (I didn’t go). I find myself astonished at how old all my classmates look. Hot teen babe to wrink;ly old battleaxe in, seemingly, overnight.

    But I keep reminding myself to keep a positive attitude. That, it seems truly, that 60 is the new 40 (for various values of 60 and 40) and, if we can avoid trauma, we may be able to live to 120 and beyond. If you care to. So, as the Rodney Crowell song goes, It Ain’t Over Yet.

    2. My 50th reunion is in 2024. IF they have one. It’ll be in town, but if when they normally have it, there are 2 other commitments that weekend, so I won’t make it, again.

  32. “Look, I expected the fraud. What I didn’t expect was the right to accept it, and roll over. I guess I have better opinion of my fellow pundits than they deserve.”

    They are fighting hard in Arizona. In Texas we have more groups helping observe, audit and raise awareness among the public, law enforcement and the party. Lawsuits and investigations in 3 of the 4 major state metro-areas. (I don’t know about San Antonio…)

    Nationwide 5 million more folks voted for the Red team than Blue even with the massive fraud. This is a first in a midterm and a positive sign.

    The main problems besides the fraud and Leftist establishment are: lower voter participation in a non-President election, sabotage by the RINOs and the milk-toast mainstream pseudo Right Wing press.

    Participation: We need a better ground game in all elections. This means more people volunteer. It’s not a huge investment of time, but it’s better than stacking bodies later.

    Sabotage: Research, get informed, spread the word and vote these MFers out. Expose them to your fellow citizens. They care more about their power, buddies across the aisle, Israel and spending trillions of dollars overseas for kickback than this country. They need to be second in line for Nuremberg 2.0 after the Deep State and before the dual citizenship crew.

    Media: Most of the “right wing” media isn’t truly right. The only useful purpose they have is exposing people to the shallow truths. They still won’t touch subjects that really need to be addressed. The games many are playing are discouraging voters and dividing the righteous.

    The situation isn’t bad enough for folks to go “Brazil”. The propaganda state still has a hold on too many that have been programmed from birth.

  33. Things that have happened on my birthday:

    Chicken pox.
    Enough snow to build a snow fort. When the peas were 3 inches high.
    The movie theater catching fire.
    Chernobyl.

    …I hide on my birthday, absolutely!

      2. Our son was born August 19, 1991. As they were wheeling me out of the labor room someone said, “Did you hear? There was a coup in Russia.” My thought was, “Great, and we’re stuck 50 miles from New York.”

    2. Lexington and Concord, historically.
      Branch Davidians. OKC Bombing.

      I declare a news embargo on mine and on youngest’s. She was born just after 12 am on 9/11. She’s old enough now (8) to have noticed the flags at half-mast every single year. Going to have to explain.

      2. Ah, you have the same day & month as Pa had. I forget if he joked that birthday or the marriage date “Shared a date with many other disasters.” (The marriage did rather well, really.)

  34. Firearms. We will fight to keep the right to shoot back, enshrined in the second amendment by the founders. It will be the thing that saves us. They know it. We will not give up the ability to kill in self defense. As I told a anti-gun Judge friend of mine years ago, it’s not for hunting it’s to shoot you if you get out of line.

    1. The right to self defense is not a thing to be meddled with by Man. It is a right recognized as simply existing, granted by Himself if you believe, or almighty Nature if you don’t.

      You don’t get to abrogate the right to self defense. All you end up doing is trying to make victims weaker, oppression in fact. The right to own weapons is the right to be free.

  36. I’m just under a year shy of the big Six O. While I’m in pretty good health, the legacy of a 25-year career in the military (8 years in the Regular Army [with 3 years on jump status], 17 years in the Guard, and a total of 17+ years on active duty) has my body reminding me of all the things I did 30+ years ago.

    1. I played Rugby till I was 34. I feel every minute of every match every morning. Worth it though. Number two son got me out for an old boys match with me at 60 years of age. Scrummaged, rucked, mauled, tackled, ran with the ball, didn’t die. Thank God they only play old boys once a year,

      Today is my da’s 10th anniversary. I miss him.

  37. My birthday’s a couple of weeks away, on the last day of the last show we’re doing this year.

    Just the fact that I’m putting down money on shows for next year is an act of faith, that there will be a show season next year. Soon I’ll be buying seed for next year’s garden, an act of faith that there will be a growing season, and I’ll be here to plant them.

    In the meantime, I’m working on three braided series of novels set during the Sharp Wars era of the Grissom timeline. It’s a way to write about creeping tyranny and the light going out in the City on the Hill, without being too blatantly topical. I’m hoping that once I get through our last show and then the bookkeeping to wind down the year, I can go full blast on them, and I’ll have some significant works to release next year.

    1. No celebration for victory over the reaper for one more year? No celebration for surviving another trip around the sun? Getting old ain’t for sissies! Celebrate! Brag about your continued survival! Gloat over the fact that you live, when there were so many chances for your fragile mortal shell to be snuffed out.

      Old people have experienced things that the young never can. Respect age, because continued survival is not guaranteed. Every old person that dies snatches away a unique experience of a world that never will be again. You might get old just by not dying- but if you’ve lived at all in that time, you’re not just old.

          1. Well now you need to tell us… We’ve all seen what Paul Verhoeven and Ed Neumeier did to RAH with that abortion of Starship Troopers. It couldn’t be much worse than “Doogie Howser and the Brain Bug of Mars”…

  42. Our 36th anniversary is today (Tuesday). We spent the morning painting the back bedroom. Out to dinner tonight…

  43. Pingback: Beartraps, birfdays, thinks and THANKS | Dio's Workshop

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