1214

 Wednesday, December 14, 2022

In bed around 10, awake at 4:30, up at 4:40, 4 pss, one cognac.  Woke up with thoughts of my cousins, my Aunt Monica's 105th birthday yesterday, thoughts also of what motivates people to hate government, the 'administrative State.'  Drizzly 36 degrees out, strong wind blowing in off the lake, wind chill 25, and rain off and on all day expected.  Pitch black outside but I can hear the weather as I sit in the recliner.  

Our Squirrels  I have a hard time understanding Geri's dislike of squirrels, indeed her dislike of rodents generally, even cute chipmunks, and of opossums.  She has a hard time understanding my affection for squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and possums.  She discovered a dead field mouse on our garage driveway yesterday, or the day before, and came into my bedroom as I was changing out of my nightshirt and into day garb.  "Oh, he man" she chanted, before telling me that she wanted me to dispose of the tiny mouse's cadaver.   I need to ask her if she ever had a pet hamster or gerbil as a child.  I had a hamster named Fuzzy.  My children had gerbils, names forgotten.  Why are these rodents, and even prairie dogs and ferrets (a/k/a weasels!) considered lovable and field mice and squirrels not?  In any case, I admire our squirrels and did even as a child, delighting in feeding them peanuts in their shells.  I'm astonished at their resourcefulness and agility,  Just yesterday I discovered my suet cake holder on the ground near the shepherd crooks where a busy squirrel left it after managing to open it (something I sometimes have difficulty doing) and retrieving the suet cake within it to take to her nest.  Lately she has discovered that she can open the lid on the tube feeder near the suet cake and eat to her heart's content, at least if the tube is full to the top or nearly so.  Also, I just learned that tree squirrels, like ours, can descend from trees head first because the ankles on their hind feet can rotate 180 degrees permitting them to grasp the bark and steady themselves on the way down.  Remarkable animals.

News from Home Town.  From this morning's WSJ: "According to Wirepoints, 15,000 defendants freed before trial through the middle of 2022 were charged with new offenses, including murder and attempted murder. Last year Cook County’s Medical Examiner recorded 1,002 gun-related homicides, up from 881 in 2020. In the first 11 months of this year, Chicago had 3,258 people shot, including 208 shootings in November, reports WTTW.  National groups like the NAACP claim pretrial detention is harder on poor people who can’t afford bail, and that it disproportionately harms African-Americans. But releasing defendants en masse, especially those with a potential for violence puts most at risk the communities with higher crime rates. Some 80% of Cook County’s murder victims in 2020 were black."  

Denny Dimwit  One of the advantages of waking up early in the morning is the ability to quietly enjoy podcasts and longer feature articles in print media.  This morning I listened to two Ezra Klein podcasts, one on the nature of and our perception of Time and the other an interview of novelist and short-story writer George Saunders.  I was impressed, as I always am, with Klein's intelligence, knowledge, and curiosity.   He's a fast talker and I almost always have difficulty keeping up with his comments and questions.  I had the same thoughts about George Saunders whose college education was as in geophysical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.   Listening to the two of them reminded me, though I need no reminding, of how slow-witted I am, or have become.  I so often have to read texts a second or third time to try to figure out what is meant and following a rapid-fire (for me) conversation is a real challenge.  Whoa!  Slow down.  Can you say that again and then pause to let me think about it?!?

Whoops, No Trulicity.  First miss.  Finally used the old 1.5 mg injector from months ago.  I suspect Jill is ill or on vacation.