0814

August 14, 2022 

Down at 10ish, up at 5ish, 4(?) pss, 2 glasses of red.

    I watched Geri walking Lilly from County Line Road onto Wakefield Court, thinking what a beautiful sight they were, how much they give meaning to my life, and how mortal, how impermanent, we all are.  I'm getting a bit Buddhist, focusing on our impermanence, how everything and everyone we love will disappear, dust to dust . . .

    All the Sunday morning talk shows are focused on the execution of the search warrant on Trump's home in Florida.   So much remains unknown, especially with the affidavit supporting the application for the search warrant still sealed, but nonetheless most Republican guests on the programs focus on questioning the DOJ's actions rather than Trump's.  'Why did they wait 18 months if this stuff was so important?  Why did they spend 9 hours in the building?  Did what they seized match up with what they were looking for?  Why wasn't Trump treated the same as Hillary Clinton and the materials on her server in her home?  . . ."  All the major news outlets have filed FOI requests for the supporting affidavit, as have the House & Senate Intelligence Committees.  Overnight, the DHS issued a formal warning or alert about serious threats to the lives of law enforcement personnel, especially FBI agents, including a warning of a threat to detonate a "dirty bomb" in front of FBI headquarters in Washington.  For the last several years I predicted this kind of social and political disintegration to Kitty, always hoping I was wrong.  It seems increasingly clear that we are on the way and already in a civil war, not like the War Between the States, but like 'the Troubles' in Ulster.  Timothy McVeigh/Oklahoma City type Troubles.

    When my father was living with us outside Saukville, he and I took delight in taking rides in the countryside of northern Ozaukee County.  We drove the miles of country roads through lush farmlands which, once summer was well underway, nourished what seemed like thousands of acres of corn, soybeans, alfalfa, oats, and wheat.   Since he died, I continue to take drives in the country, though less frequently than I did with him.  We have moved away from surrounding farmlands and into 'civilization' so a ride in the country takes some traveling.  Also, I know no one who is interested in something as 'boring' as a ride in the country, so my rides are all solo adventures, one of which I took again for a couple hours this afternoon.  I-43 to Hwy 57 to Jay Road to the Lake Michigan shore then reversing course but staying on Jay Road to Cedar Valley Road to Evergreen Road to CTH H to CTH A through Little Kohler and Waubeka and Fredonia and back home on I-43.  Corn stalks have grown high with tassels, soybean plants full and fully green, wheat fields freshly harvested, alfalfa appearing newly planted after the first harvest, no sign of any oat fields with their delicate green color.  Saw what appeared to be 3 sandhill cranes at a distance, feeding on leftovers from an early harvest of something.  Saw a group of bird hunters on another harvested field, working (training?) their dogs.  The sun broke through the clouds about halfway through my drive, brightening everything I saw.  I passed by the horse barns and pastures where I used to help to do 'hippotherapy' for disabled kids with an occupational therapist - back when I was more mobile.  I wonder what it is with me that I take such delight in seeing farmhouses, barns, silos, farm equipment, and lush fields.  Whatever it is, I'm grateful for it.

    While on my drive I thought about how natural it seems for people who live away from urban/suburban areas to be Republicans, maybe even to despise Democrats.  Not all, but the vast majority of those living in the country are White, Euro-Americans.  A great many own the house they live in and many own hundreds of acres of farmland and perhaps a herd of dairy cows and maybe other farm animals.  Most live on at least semi-isolated parcels of land, no one bunched up cheek-by-jowl with many neighbors.  The land they own is largely unregulated in terms of land use.  No Homeowners or condo associations, no significant zoning regulations, and no landlords.  If they want to burn their trash in a fire pit in their yard, they do it.  They don't bump into one another in the country the way city and suburban dwellers do so they don't feel the need for a lot of social, political, or other regulation, nor are they accustomed to it.  Indeed they can easily come to hate the whole idea of it, and to hate those who support it, 'socialists, enemies of personal freedom.'

    Dinner at McDonald's and Culver's tonight.