Monday, January 23, 2017

Well the
idiot is now president. I’m not terribly anti-Republican. I can think of a
couple Republicans that I would seriously consider voting for as president.  But I am anti-Trump. Hard to believe that
almost 63,000,000 people voted for that egotistical narcissist. Scary, and it
doesn’t say a lot for the intelligence of the American electorate. Lise went to
the anti-Trump Women’s rally here in Lansing. Somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000
people showed up. I’m sure that in Trump’s narcissistic fantasy world of
alternative facts, otherwise known as lies, the number was just eight or nine
nasty women.  

Women’s anti-Trump march, Lansing MI.

We have
settled into something of a routine since getting back from our Christmas trip.
Lise has been busy with her business. I’ve been putting in a lot of time working
on the garage and basement so I can do some woodworking in the garage. I could
make a shop without too much ado but, Lise has reminded me that the garage was
designed to park our cars inside it. Given that paradigm, I’ve started beating
back the insidious spread of stuff slowly filling the garage and basement. I’m think
the stuff has been reproducing on its own. Or the neighbors have been throwing in
something new whenever we leave the garage door open. Stuff has been slowly growing
inward from the walls for the 16 years we’ve been here.  It’s a bit of a Gordian Knot to make some
space, but I am seeing some progress. I should be able to do more woodworking
within a week or so. 

Things haven’t
been all work though. We both have regular workout routines and we walk a
friend’s dogs on a regular basis. We have been getting out some for short hikes
or birding too. Mostly stuff at local parks. We chased a Townsend’s solitaire
at Island Lake State Recreation Area, about an hour from here. The Townsend’s
is a far Western bird but they show up sporadically in Michigan during the
winter. This one was in an area was once mined for gravel and then reclaimed as
an addition to Island Rec Area. It was a mishmash of gravel piles, ponds,
two-track roads, and paths, but we managed to find the bird. A drab gray bird
on a drab gray Michigan winter day. But, a good Michigan bird and at least we weren’t sitting around the house. I’m now at 72 bird species for the year and
Lise is at 66. Still no dragonflies yet.

Townsend’s solitaire. A small, drab, gray bird on a drab, gray Michigan winter day.