On Mondays I “sleep late,” which is to say, I don’t set the alarm and wake up whenever. On Monday I woke at 6, tried to read for a while and drifted back to sleep, and learned my subconscious still has some tricks up her sleeve, i.e., a brand-new anxiety dream:
I’d invited two people to come to dinner, and had shopped and prepped food for all of us. They arrived, and before I could even shut the door, more people were standing on the front step, and apparently I’d invited them, too. This went on and on, and the house filled up with people expecting a meal. I never got around to serving anything, because issues kept arising in the party crowd — someone needed this moved from the second floor to the first, etc. It seemed to never end until I finally woke up, feeling very befuddled.
If only I’d invited Jesus. I understand he has a hack for feeding a multitude.
I’m well-acquainted with anxiety dreams, and have been working on them for some time. They started with the classic Test Dream (I’m seated for the final, and realize I’ve never attended this class). After my formal schooling ended, it became the Deadline Dream (an editor is expecting something, and I’ve done no reporting). My Feet Are Mired in Mud, self-explanatory in the central imagery. And so on. Now it’s the Dinner Party Dream.
Sigh. Very Monday, that one.
Jason T. posted this piece from the Bulwark on his socials, and I think it’s worth a read. Excerpt:
Biden’s biggest failure was that his theory of America was wrong.
He could have governed as a radical intent on destroying the populist project. This would have meant aggressively pursuing criminal charges against Trump and his confederates. It would have meant forgoing normal legislation in order to pursue broad, systemic change. Such a course would have been risky and — probably — unpopular.
Instead, Biden governed like a normal president in a normal moment. He pursued mostly popular, mostly incremental reforms. He forged bipartisan majorities. He passed a lot of legislation, most of it focused on concrete items to improve the lives of American citizens even—especially—in red states.
Biden’s belief was that the Trump moment was an aberration and that America could return to its liberal equilibrium if he governed normally and gave the Republican party space to heal itself and turn away from its authoritarian project.
Biden’s theory of the case was shredded by events.
Like many of you, I’ve been marinating in takes about Biden since That Book dropped. (May I say here that I have never been so happy to be quit of cable news as I have been this week, as I understand CNN has been shameless in flogging their star anchor’s work product.) And I share the frustration many of you have, that the coverage of a dying man who is no longer president has not even been matched at all by coverage of a senile man who is president. But at the same time, I don’t think we can ignore that covering for the president’s infirmity has gotten us here, where Democrats who haven’t even filed to run for office, any office, will be asked to somehow defend the work of people they don’t know, in events they had no control over. And no one is saying the obvious: Even a frail, doddering president with a competent staff is preferable to the one we have now, although you can argue that the original sin was for Biden to run in the first place. (See quoted paragraph, above.)
But Jason added something else that needs to be said. The Bulwark is a Substack vertical run by never-Trumpers who have moved incrementally to the left, or not moved at all, and now find themselves with more Democratic friends than Republican. He commented:
The reason people don’t like The Bulwark, of course, is that many of the people who contribute to it also built the current media and political climate which now afflicts the U.S. — they were part of various far-right think-tanks and publications and TV networks. We didn’t get to this dark reality in a vacuum; people like Bill Kristol and Mona Charen dragged the U.S. into this dark reality.
Exactly. Those of us who remember Mona Charen when she was shaking her finger at women who had sex outside of marriage still remember those columns, and ditto Kristol. I mean, I’m glad they’re resisting the current catastrophe, but if it ever ends, I don’t see themselves on our side. And we need to work this all the way out.
Of course, we can’t not blame Fox News. A nice takedown of our U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, here:
“Think about it: Omar wears a hijab,” said Pirro in 2019, referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota). “Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” That remark drew condemnation from her own network.
After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), for instance, expressed concerns that she might fall victim to a “political” prosecution after participating in a February “Know Your Rights” webinar for immigrants, Pirro attacked. “No, honey,” she said on the March 3 edition of “The Five.” “What it is, is it’s a prosecution based on — I think it’s 8 USC 119 — for obstruction of justice.” On the April 10 edition of “The Five,” she blamed Democrats for “keeping the illegals in the shadows and keeping the illegals illegal.” That was more charitable than the evaluation she articulated just over a week earlier, when she said of Democrats, “It’s a party that’s filled with hate.”
The punchline comes later, but it’s always satisfying to see Janine Winebox cut down to size.
But let’s end on a higher plane. Some of your Fort Wayne people might remember Zach Klein, who first crossed my radar when he won the Sterling Sentinel scholarship offered by my employer. He went to Wake Forest, and we later met up when he determined that he and I were the only two people in Fort Wayne with a blog. He later founded College Humor with his college roommates, sold it and has since gone on to more startups, including the one our own Deborah participated in, something about cabin-building.
Anyway. As I recall, Zach wrote about the subject of this very nice column, or at least the precipitating event, in his scholarship essay. It’s about the night his brother fell head-first out of a pickup that Zach was driving, as well as what came after:
When word got out that Noel was in a coma, our community showed up. There was a chapel in the hospital, and we held vigils for him. Mostly we sat silently with heads bowed, but occasionally someone would offer something up to the room. That’s when I heard the Serenity Prayer for the first time.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.I felt some relief, both an acknowledgment of my guilt and a merciful release from my community for whatever role I played. As a naive teenager who had little experience with the bigger world, it was an extraordinary glimpse into the human experience filled with error and pain, as well as a process—one that we have always needed and will always need—to forgive ourselves.
This prayer was different from the ones I had said over and over before. It was a tool, a reminder to help us frame burdens in a way that makes them easier to bear.
Noel’s brain swelling eventually reduced, and he emerged from his coma. He lived, but his life has never gotten easier. And I never returned to church or prayed again, either—yet I often think about the grace of the Serenity Prayer.
Anyway, I think you’ll like it, religious or not.
Time for me to get a move on.
Deborah said on May 21, 2025 at 9:36 am
That was beautifully moving, what Zach wrote. Hard to believe that cabin building class in upstate NY was twelve years ago. I still think about it a lot.
Zach was also a cofounder of Vimeo. And I found out about him through Cabin Porn.
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Mark P said on May 21, 2025 at 10:05 am
Whining about what Biden should have done is whining about who Biden is. I was about to say what I wish he had done (it would have involved a machine gun), but then I remembered that we have to censor ourselves in the Trump regime. I don’t want the masked goon squad coming after me.
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Sherri said on May 21, 2025 at 11:33 am
If Biden were incompetent and senile, at least he had surrounded himself with people who cared about the US and the Constitution enough not to, oh, weaponize the DOJ to attack the people criticizing him or his son. Biden was never my first choice, I didn’t like his Israel stance, but he was a better President than I ever expected.
A senile Biden is a better President than Trump, who has sent people legally in this country to foreign prisons without due process and refused to bring them back despite being ordered to by SCOTUS, has arrested a judge and a mayor and is now going after a member of Congress for not rolling over and participating in his illegal schemes to move brown people out of the country, and is openly, blatantly corrupt, extorting bribes from law firms and foreigners.
Oh, and is not exactly at the top of his game mentally.
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Sherri said on May 21, 2025 at 11:59 am
At least this administration hasn’t completely degraded the NWS yet. My friends and family in TN and AL got tornado warnings and took shelter, including my brother and sister-in-law who lost trees in their yard to a tornado and whose next door neighbor lost their roof. My brother lives near Huntsville, AL.
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Jeff Borden said on May 21, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Give ’em time, Sherri. They’re just getting started. The late night skullduggery in the House has produced a document of cruelty, callousness and cuts while carving out fat new tax cuts for people who don’t need to have their fucking taxes cut, but raised substantially. There are also some nasty little pieces tucked in that would grant the preznit even more power. It’s an abomination and, of course, not what tRump was promising the rubes on the campaign trail.
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Sherri said on May 21, 2025 at 1:58 pm
Oh, they’ve already done it, the impact just isn’t here yet. People at the NWS are just working insane hours to keep people safe, for now, but it’s not sustainable.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/20/weather-service-offices-struggling-with-staffing-cuts-face-tornadoes/83728477007/
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Julie Robinson said on May 21, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Hurricane season begins June 1. Not concerning at all.
I almost started a juror insurrection and got myself dismissed from duty. First we were asked if we had any opinions on criminal justice and drugs. Up went the paddle. Yes, I think if you’re white and wealthy you’re much more likely to get off than if you have brown or black skin and not much money.
Next question was absurd; we were asked if the law said men’s hair had to be a buzz cut and someone had longer hair, would we uphold the law and convict. Whut? My paddle went up so high and so fast there was a breeze. That would be an unjust law, and I believe citizens have a moral duty to protest and not follow unjust laws. After that, about 10 people put up their paddles and said–“what she said”.
Out to lunch, where my $15 pay didn’t cover the cost of a gyros, and when we reconvened I was excused. I came home and told my mom, your girl’s a troublemaker.
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David C said on May 21, 2025 at 3:40 pm
I don’t think I could be selected for any jury in a criminal case. Do you believe what a police officer says? Hell no. So long and thanks for stopping by, Dave. Here your parting gift of $15.
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jim said on May 21, 2025 at 4:07 pm
Zach Klein adjacent. Charlie Savage did not win the Sterling Sentinel journalism award because he wasn’t nominated. Someone else from North Side was. That gave me the absolute pleasure of interviewing him for the Math award, which he in fact almost won. He was terrific to talk to.
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Suzanne said on May 21, 2025 at 5:36 pm
I met Charlie Savage several years ago in Fort Wayne. It was the inaugural Anthony Wayne Day and I knew one of the presenters, so my husband & I went. There was a bit of controversy about having it because no one from the indigenous people who Wayne came to destroy were invited. After the presentation, a man approached us, stated he was a journalist and asked a few questions. When we were finished, I asked him what publication he was with and about lost my teeth when he said “The New York Times.” Gah! What had I said and did I sound like a fool? But we chatted a bit and he explained that he grew up in the Fort and was here visiting family, heard about the presentation and the controversy surrounding, so stopped in. He was very nice and I was impressed to have met somebody sort of famous!
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Sherri said on May 22, 2025 at 12:18 am
Why the Sanders movement didn’t lead to a Tea Party like takeover of the Democratic Party: https://newrepublic.com/article/195300/democratic-tea-party-bernie-aoc-failed-succeed
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alex said on May 22, 2025 at 11:46 am
I didn’t know Zach Klein was carrying such a burden. It calls to my mind not a prayer but a proverb: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
I’ve largely avoided reading all the shit about Biden and wish the media would train its outrage on the deserving. I’m simply dumbfounded at seeing Trump hosting the president of South Africa and accosting him with a completely bullshit story about Blacks committing genocide on Whites. What a fucking sociopath. And yet he controls the room and the coverage and the media are too timid to say this is just plain sick and he needs to be locked up before he destroys anything else.
Yesterday I test drove a car and decided I’m going to buy it before the tariffs kick in. It’s a GM product built in Korea, which is what makes it such a good value for the money at present. It has also gotten outstanding reviews. I know I’ve said here before that I would never buy another GM car, and I’ve been a longtime Honda and Toyota loyalist, but I’m taking a chance on this one. The salesman happens to be a friend and he and his partner are both driving iterations of the same car. He tells me that the car was originally intended for the Chinese market but that it’s built in Korea so that it can be imported here as well, and that the Korean build quality beats the hell out of GM products assembled in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.
In the showroom was an electric Hummer priced at $150K and I was told that it has been there for over a year with no takers, but it draws people in.
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Dexter Friend said on May 22, 2025 at 3:26 pm
The cold-blooded shooting of the young Jewish couple in DC has inspired some speakers on cable today to say anti-Zionism is the same as anti-Semitism, which is murky at least, because anti-Zionism is only anti-Semitic when people say , well, read here from AJC: “IS ALL CRITICISM OF ISRAEL ANTISEMITIC?
No. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism (“the IHRA Definition”) — employed by governments around the world — explicitly notes that legitimate criticism of Israel is not antisemitism: “Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
Remember, many Jews in Israel today hate Netanyahu’s genocidal destruction and starvation policy regarding Gaza.
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Sherri said on May 22, 2025 at 5:35 pm
Just spent two and half hours putting together a new gas grill. I had tried to fix my old Webber, and got it working for a while, finally gave up on it. It was 20 years old.
So now I have a new Webber, but if I ever buy another grill, I’m paying for assembly. The design was good and the instructions were clear, but I’m tired! Plus I had to get the box from my front porch to my back patio, and it weighed 125 lbs. (A hand truck converted to a cart did the trick, plus all my lifting does pay off.)
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Julie Robinson said on May 22, 2025 at 6:51 pm
And someone in our house has been making noises about a new grill. I remember previous grill building fun, and if one appears, I’m calling our handyman, stat.
Alex, our son just went domestic too, with a hybrid pickup from Ford. He was able to beat the tariffs. Unfortunately, they had to order a second time when the original didn’t pass inspection at the factory, yikes. They’re giving him a little more off for the wait.
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Sherri said on May 22, 2025 at 7:11 pm
To be fair, the assembly instructions did say it was a two person job, but I didn’t want to wait for my husband to find time to help, and I didn’t see anything that looked like I couldn’t handle alone. I’m just done with putting together this kind of stuff. This is the third gas grill I’ve put together by myself, and I’m not a young homeowner excited about it anymore.
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Sherri said on May 22, 2025 at 9:44 pm
Quite a story about the book claiming a big coverup of Biden’s decline: https://observationalepidemiology.blogspot.com/2025/05/when-they-really-want-to-tell-story.html
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Dexter Friend said on May 23, 2025 at 12:19 am
Ace Hardware delivers fully-assembled grills to your home. They come with spices and cookbook.
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David C said on May 23, 2025 at 6:00 am
I don’t know if I’m getting lazier, more prosperous, or just plain getting older, but there are so many things that I’d once gladly pitch in and do but now say forget it, pay someone else do it.
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basset said on May 23, 2025 at 8:19 am
Bushwacker is a company that makes fender flares (plastic liners around the wheel openings) for cars and trucks, some for aftermarket (big ol’ flaps on lifted trucks and jeeps) and some for OEM, which get put on at the point of entry.
I was there a few years ago and one of the guys in the plant told me they were doing flares for new Toyotas and Hyundais, making em both to Toyota standard and Hyundai said they didn’t have to be quite that good.
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Deborah said on May 23, 2025 at 8:51 am
LB and I spent the day digging holes in the ground yesterday. Lordy that is hard work. LB had the biggest deepest holes to dig. I spent a shitload on plants, if I had to pay someone to dig the holes and plant them, I’d be broke. When you go down a bit in the earth here you hit caliche which is like concrete. I have no idea how plants can send their roots into that stuff but they do it.
Today we’re going to Abiquiu to collect rocks to bring back for the garden and check on the cabin. I’m not crazy about the way rock gardens look, I’ve planted ornamental grasses in with the rocks, but it’s bare dirt or rocks, so rocks it is. Over the years to come I’ll swap out the rocks for more grasses, I hope, but that just means more water, so that’s a problem.
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alex said on May 23, 2025 at 10:18 am
Deborah, I don’t know whether euonymus grows in New Mexico, but that’s a ground cover with roots that can penetrate concrete-like soil and it’s a tough-ass drought-tolerant plant. After the nuclear holocaust the earth will be covered in cockroaches and euonymus I’m pretty sure.
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jim said on May 23, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Got an email this morning re firings at Purdue Fort Wayne. Copied below without the author’s identification. The Q center is a resource and library serving LGBTQ+ students. A second email included the info that two of the fired are general advisors with 30-40 years of service, and the info that employees were told that any public negative comments would result in loss of carry over benefits, which would mean no insurance through the summer.
Message below
Earlier this afternoon, campus employees received email from the chancellor announcing the firing of 45 employees. The Hoosier Community Coalition, a campus group that formed to protect DEI resources on our campus, has confirmed that Dr. Hammond and almost the entire ODEI staff were fired, and the following offices were closed: Multicultural Center, Q Center, Women’s Center, and others. But the firings were not limited to these. Additional firings have been reported in the Career Development Center and others.
Students were NOT notified of the firings.
Students, staff, and faculty who are concerned about these issues, or who have information to share about what is going on, please share your information on this listserv or reach out to me or other members of the HCC (hoosiercommunitycoalition@gmail.com). We continue to gather information and will push it out far and wide as it becomes available.
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Dexter Friend said on May 23, 2025 at 3:00 pm
so Trump helo’d in, talked nonsense for 25 minutes, and helo’d up and away.
The crypto millionaires + billionaires went back to their gold-leaf salmon and coquettes.
That was it.
This Trump crime syndicate is over-the-top.
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alex said on May 23, 2025 at 5:04 pm
And today that asshole sent the stock market tumbling again by threatening the EU and Apple if they don’t genuflect immediately and suck his toadstool.
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Deborah said on May 23, 2025 at 5:06 pm
Yep Alex, we’ve already got euonymus but not as ground cover, I hadn’t thought of that. Before we had a presence here years ago someone had planted euonymus along an ugly chain link fence that separated the property from the former Boys and Girls club athletic field which is next door. It very effectively grew all over that ugly fence which concealed the condo property from view which was fantastic, we couldn’t see the fence or through the fence. Then the Boys and Girls club moved out of the city and when they tried to sell the property they hired a crew to come out and clear out all the growth along the fence. The origin of the vine was on our side of the fence but that didn’t make any difference to them. They butchered it. We went through a lot of ideas how to get the condo privacy again but lo and behold the euonymus has come back in spots, as you say it seems to be indestructible. The fence is completely concealed again, we planted silver lace along it which grows fast and covers everything like kudzu and has pretty white flowers on it in the summer. Also bees love it. It grows everywhere here and is drought resistant.
I will look into using euonymus as ground cover. Great idea.
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Sherri said on May 23, 2025 at 5:24 pm
SCOTUS issued a reminder that they’re pretty much on board with what Trump’s doing, saying yes, he can destroy Congressionally created agencies and fire at will people appointed to them. Except the Federal Reserve. After all, when you’re just making up your own Constitution, you can make it say anything you want, and they’re not on board with him wiping out their wealth, or their handlers’ wealth.
And Congressional Republicans just passed a budget that increases the deficit, and the only argument was over how many people would be kicked off Medicaid. The people opposed wanted to kick more off, so that they could feel better about the tax cuts.
It’s not just Trump. He just says what the rest of them want to do louder.
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Julie Robinson said on May 23, 2025 at 5:30 pm
PFW also shut down their baseball and softball programs. I don’t care so much about sports, but 40 year employees deserve better. I’m wondering what happened to the music department, where our son lived as a student. It had been a point of pride, and a previous chancellor had student performances at all his fundraising events. Now that Purdue has taken, I doubt they value anything from the liberal arts.
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Sherri said on May 23, 2025 at 6:35 pm
SCOTUS has also given us a clear demonstration of Wilhoit’s Law. This current SCOTUS used the shadow docket to allow Trump to remove two members of supposedly independent regulatory boards, while the lawsuits fighting the removal continued to work their way through the lower courts. In other words, there were no arguments heard, just the Trump administration running to “his” court to get them to take care of his problems.
In allowing Trump to remove those members, the Court effectively overturned a case from 1935, when FDR, frustrated with a member of an independent board thwarting his agenda, fired him. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Humphrey’s Executor, as the case is known, was 9-0 that FDR could not do that.
But FDR was a Democrat. Only Democrats are bound by the law. Republicans are protected by the law, not bound.
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Dexter Friend said on May 24, 2025 at 11:27 am
When it was IUPUFW, called “The Extension”, or colloquially “the stench”, and since my baseball playing was technically non-professional, the baseball coach there recruited me to come play college baseball.
I couldn’t do it as I was in full-survival mode, working all I could before and after classes.
2 years in the army away from baseball playing also made me realize I was not going to make anyone appreciate any skills I had left anyway. I was 21 and done.
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alex said on May 24, 2025 at 4:20 pm
That campus was also called “Bypass High” (being located on the old U.S. 30 bypass) and was also called Oooey Poooey by some, although that name rightfully belonged to IUPUI in Indianapolis. Today, solely under Purdue’s leadership, its moniker is Poo Foo.
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Deborah said on May 24, 2025 at 8:10 pm
We have had to go back to Home Depot every single day since I got here on Sunday the 18th. It drives me crazy that I have to keep dumping money into that corporation but there’s no other option here, yes there are other corporations like Lowes, Ace and True Value in town but if you want to find the tools you need and the help you need to find them in those big box stores in Santa Fe, Home Depot is it and that’s so aggravating to me. There are no mom and pop hardware stores anymore. Alas.
We haven’t been able to predict what we will need to get the job done until we are doing it and every day we realize there’s a better way with a simple tool that we don’t have. Will we ever have enough tools?
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alex said on May 24, 2025 at 11:35 pm
Deborah, we have every fucking tool ever invented. And can I find the one I need when I need it? Never. Scissors and Scotch tape are exactly the same way. Greeting cards bought in advance of anticipated graduations, weddings and birthdays too.
Today we got a new one we didn’t have, though — a 12-volt pump that can suck water out of the leaky pontoons on our boat. The hand pump we had probably could have helped me build some bitchin’ biceps but we’re not patient or painstaking about anything around here.
Took hubby to see the car I want to buy. He’s partial to a metallic silver one in mid-grade trim (“leatherette” interior, alas, but sporty black rims!) and I think he has sold me on it, especially with his generous contribution of cash. The top-of-the-line model with real leather and excessive chrome does seem kind of fogey-ish on reconsideration, and it’s not currently available in any colors we like.
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David C said on May 25, 2025 at 6:34 am
No job around the house ever seems to me done without three visits to the Ace downtown and/or Menard’s and/or Lowe’s. The each have their little niche and no one ever has everything I want. The Ace is close but doesn’t have a very good selection. Menard’s is good for cheap shit that you’re pretty sure you’ll only use once and they a far better lumber yard. Lowe’s is for the good stuff you want to last.
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Deborah said on May 25, 2025 at 8:52 am
The Lowe’s in Santa Fe is terrible for some reason, dirty, understaffed, the merch on the shelves isn’t replaced orderly. I never go there anymore.
The weird thing is that there’s a Lowe’s in Espanola, the town that’s about 25 miles away has a great Lowe’s. I call Espanola the armpit of the world. We go through it on our way back and forth to Abiquiu, it has terrible city corruption and it’s just plain ugly (with incredible surrounding landscapes though). But somehow it’s got the best Lowe’s I’ve ever been in. The Walmart that’s next to it is a sad story though.
The writer Wendy McClure (of hilarious old recipe card fame) had a saying about some CVS stores. There are some she called “bad times”. They just are for some reason and they can be in not bad neighborhoods too.
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alex said on May 25, 2025 at 9:18 am
I’m running out of patience with CVS. It has a byzantine phone system that makes it almost impossible to speak with a pharmacist because they want you to manage your prescriptions online rather than calling. However the web site requires two-factor authentication to log in every effing time, and they text me a verification code but it often comes hours after I’ve logged off the computer out of frustration. They’re going to lose my business to my local hospital-owned pharmacy. I’m transferring my prescriptions at the next opportunity.
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Mark P said on May 25, 2025 at 10:18 am
They say troubles come in threes, but I’m having trouble keeping count. My wife has early dementia, spends a lot of time in bed, and issues instructions from there, usually with the door closed and me down the hall in the living room. I’m scheduled for knee replacement in June. I had to reschedule it because the woman who sometimes stays with my wife will have to take me to the hospital and stay with her while I’m there, and she was in Florida when my surgery was first scheduled. Both knees are bad, so it’s hard to put on my socks in the morning. And then a tree fell across the road up the mountain to our house last night. I was trying to pull it off the road, but the branch I was pulling on broke and I fell backwards, hard on my hip. I could barely walk last night. It’s a little better this morning, but I almost couldn’t figure out how to put on my underwear this morning. One of our dogs has been having bloody diarrhea all over the house. The other was attacked by two dogs and got a bad bite on her upper thigh. She’s got a tube to drain the wound and is wearing the cone of shame. Funny how dogs can’t figure that out. She pulls like a draft horse, which makes it even harder to take her out now, what with bad knees and a bad hip. Two stray cats have taken up with us. They disappear for long periods. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them, but coyotes have to eat, too.
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David C said on May 25, 2025 at 10:27 am
Walgreen’s phone system is just as bad but they have a 24 hour pharmacy in town so we stick with them. You don’t need a 24 hour pharmacy often but when you do, you do.
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Icarus said on May 25, 2025 at 1:00 pm
I avoid Lowes because I missed an email reminder about a payment due ($27) and sent it late, and they treated me like a bank robber! For some reason, when I pay through my bank (Chase), they require Chase to send them a physical check, so it takes a few days.
I have two “single-use” tools I had to buy. One is to connect your vinyl siding, and the other is called a Center-Punch. I bought that one because the instructions for installing a shower door said we needed it.
I was elated to find that I could use it again when I needed to repair the broken attic ladder hinge. Turns out, we didn’t need it for that.
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Colleen said on May 25, 2025 at 6:52 pm
When I worked at a hardware store during college summers, we used to guess how many times we would see a DIY customer that day. “Oh, he’ll be back at least twice.”
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Dorothy said on May 25, 2025 at 6:53 pm
I am not sure if all CVS phone systems are the same, but this morning when I called at 7 AM to renew my blood pressure meds, one of the options was to press a certain number and leave a message, and a pharmacist would call me back. I have not done this – so I can’t say how quickly they call you back. But my script was ready at 10 or 10:30 this morning because they texted me when it was ready.
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Deborah said on May 25, 2025 at 8:16 pm
OMG Colleen, that’s us. Doing DIY by the seat of our pants, at least driving to the hardware store gives us a break in the DIY action each day, so I guess that’s good. But today we did not have to make a trip to Home Depot, though we worked a lot and I’m exhausted again. There’s even a chance of rain tonight, fingers crossed. Rain is magical for newly planted stuff, even though supposedly watering from the spigot works, it’s just not the same as rain.
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Jeff Gill said on May 26, 2025 at 7:58 am
Mark P, my best thoughts your way. I can relate to much of that, at least to the challenges of helping someone who doesn’t get that you’re helping but you can’t let that stop you from helping. Blessings on your path ahead.
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Julie Robinson said on May 26, 2025 at 11:12 am
Mark P, my heart goes out to you. I’ve had a few similar days and thought I just couldn’t get through them. I started carving out one morning a month for a caregivers’ support group and that’s helped a lot, both with perspective and resources. They have both in person and zoom groups available.
I always take side bets with myself on how many lumberyard trips a project is going to take. And how many new tools will be needed, too. We have an Ace right in the neighborhood and try to use them as much as possible, but they don’t have big equipment or lumber. No Menard’s, Home Depot 15 minutes away, and Lowe’s another 15 beyond that.
Dorothy will relate to this–I stopped in at JoAnn Fabrics last week, as they are closing in a few days. Walked back out without buying anything, as most merchandise was still only 60% off and lacking shelf tags. I barely have any sewing time anymore, but I’m still sad. It leaves only the execrable Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, and one quilt store about half an hour away. I had given away my fabric and patterns before we moved, and now I’m a little sorry.
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Dexter Friend said on May 26, 2025 at 2:49 pm
godDAMN this genocide in Gaza.
Last night, reports of Israel’s targeting another school, inferring it was a Hamas stronghold.
No Hamas were found in the carnage, but video was too graphic to show on TV, as 30 people were killed, and 18 children were filmed screaming , running, as their bodies were quickly consumed to death by fire…burned alive. So “we” must fund Netanyahu’s terrorists? No, if the USA must “support Israel”, let’s put in a little caveat.
Stop the genocide.
My latest small study revealed that 40% of The Knesset wants Netanyahu recalled and put on trial for many accusations, fraud, corruption, but 40% isn’t enough.\Netanyahu is an all-caps THUG. !
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alex said on May 26, 2025 at 4:31 pm
It’s a fair bet a higher percentage than that want Trump put on trial for his crimes, but it’s also not enough.
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