Today's assassination attempt pretty much sealed it. We are getting a Republican trifecta. This might be the end of the "safe state" system, the system that has dominated American Presidential elections since 1992, in which the West Coast and the Northeast are (D), the Plains states and the Deep South are (R), and everything else is a tossup.
Afternoon folks!
If you enjoy the blues, your ears might be busy this weekend. Starting off, we've got an album from BB King, followed an early Albert Collins album, followed by an album by Chicago blues harmonica player Carey Bell and finishing off the blues selections with a compilation album from Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Shaw and Left Hand Frank. After that there's a Wailers (reggae) album and an album from Texas musician Doug Sahm along with some excellent sidemen including Dr. John, David Bromberg and Flaco Jimenez. Then there's a rock album from a largely-overlooked all-girl rock band, Fanny. We finish off in the diversity department with a late 60's country album from Carl Perkins.
Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!
While everyone is focused on the unpopularity of President Biden (for good reason), you could be forgiven for not knowing just how unpopular Trump is. When Trump left office he was already extremely unpopular.
Hey, friends!
It has been quite a hectic week here. No electricity at home, camping out at the office. I dread it, but I must clean out my fridge at home this weekend. I saved the contents of my freezer, but all those opened jars of condiments will have to be tossed.
So, this chihuahua came up in my office yard. He sort of adopted me. I called the number on the collar tag, got directions to take him somewhere to some friend of the owner, like the responsibility was mine to return him to the persons who lets him run loose all over town. "Lil' Man" had fleas. Not what I want in my vehicle.
Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.
I had not been to the zoo in a few months and the last time I was there I didn't photograph any animals. I only went to check out their orchid house which is only open one day a month. Needing to replace my raggedy old zoo ballcap and wanting to check out the newly refurbished hippo pool I decided it was time for a visit and stopped by for a few hours Monday morning and again yesterday morning.
You never know from one day to the next how active the animals will be. On Monday the hippos (mother and daughter) were the most active I've ever seen them, roaming about from one end of the pool to the other. Normally they spend all their time sitting at one end of the pool almost complete submerged and rarely moving.
Yesterday it was the Grizzly bears that were out and about. Normally they, along with all the other bears, spend all their time sleeping in the shade.
Adult male Mandrill
We get settled into our lives and the need for electricity is taken for granted. Until it's not.
This was my first hurricane. It made landfall about 150 miles south of us as a Cat. 1, but soon after was downgraded to a tropical storm. To be honest I had lived through stronger storms back in Illinois, but this tropical storm devastated a huge swath of southeast Texas as it made its way northward. The big problem was downed and uprooted trees that caused havoc across the region.
We've all lived through relatively short times of no power to our homes, usually resolved within a few hours, but one really gets an appreciation for the extent that our lives depend on electricity when it's lost for several days. Cooking, temperature control, gasoline availability, the loss of refrigeration and a whole assortment of every day mundanities become front and center when one suddenly finds oneself back in the 1800s.
This is the Psyop of the Moment, apparently. The Democrats are trying to decide who they wish to nominate, their foreign policy is James Buchanan-level bad, and their opponent, also bad, will win in November. But, rather than organizing a countervailing force (Jill Stein, maybe), they've decided to blanket Facebook with "read Project 2025" notices. Here's the website, if you were asking.
Nothing Much:
I've not got much for this open thread, so I'm posting a pic of one of my lovely goats, Poppy, and a video about amazing things dogs do. And opening the thread! Post whatever you want, whatever is up. And have some fun thinking about goats and dogs 
.
Poppy, Poppy:
She's got one of her sons still with us, Harold. She is a very, very smart goat, and learned to come get some milk from me when I was feeding her best friend, Lily, whose mother couldn't feed her. Poppy got the last of the bottle and loved it. She and Harold, her son, are very close even as she approaches 7.5 years old (faint).
Poppy, giving me the look that means she's ready to be milked!
