Jesse, that is an awesome dress.

So I've been vaguely jangly all day because last night we heard a bad wreck on our street.

We live in the foothills, which means we live on a sloping hill. Last night at 9:30, I heard a motorcycle engine rev, going down our little community/suburban street. Then I heard a pause, where there was no engine noise. Then two thuds. Ten minutes later, dozens of our neighbors were out looking for the body. The cops and the fire department were out in front of N&G's school and there wasn't a lot of urgency.

This morning, there was the stuff they put down to soak up gas and oil in a streak from where the dip near our house is (you often hear cars bottom out, especially those who ignore the big DIP signs), two blocks down, all the way to the school. Someone had a very bad night.

Oh, no, meara. That must be so frustrating!

ETA: man, Kat, that sounds pretty bad.

Yeah, and I just saw a bug in my hotel room and am wide awake trying to convince myself it's not a bedbug. What temperature would I have to heat my suitcase to, to kill them, if it were one?

StE didn't take naps. He got taken by a few, but on the whole, like Emmett, they made him groggy and didn't help with the sleep total for the night.

Wishing meara no bedbugs.

Kat, that does sound bad.

I had my Grandmother's 1930's gold tank watch with leaves engraved along the frame, on a leather strap. And a plastic Timex for walking and biking.

In principle, I am not sure people are against voter ID, but the implementation is really biased: has to be a state issued id or driver's license, school id won't work. library card won't work. gun license WILL work.

To be fair, I would hope that the identification process is more closely monitored for gun licenses than for library cards.

People never realize how truly dangerous books can be...

GNARGHHHH I don't want to be awake right now. Or for the last three hours.

Another thing about voter ID requirements that many people do not realize is how difficult it can be to get an ID if you do not have one for someone who is disabled, or elderly & poor enough that driving a car was given up a while before. If you don't already have a state issued ID, chances are it is because you don't have a copy of your birth certificate for whatever reason. IF a birth certificate exists, it costs $25 (give or take) to get one. Most of us have an idea what it is like to try to squeeze out an extra $25 out of your budget when there is no extra money for anything. Not everybody remembers that feeling.

And some of the people who are most anxious to have voter ID requirements in place know exactly what it means.

The voter ID laws tend to specify that a free or low-cost ID will be supplied to those who need one. That makes it sound as thought it is not meant to put barriers up to low-income voters - but they don't frickin' offer to pay for a copy of the birth certificate you need in order to get the ID. Then if you do, somehow, scrape up the funds to get that birth certificate, you have to find a way to get to the DMV - begging a ride from a neighbor or family member, or whomever. That's not always as easy as it might sound; good neighbors can no longer be taken for granted. Sometimes they simply do not exist. Sometimes the ones who are most willing have conflicts in their own schedules that make it challenging to get to the DMV during business hours. I have seen how difficult it was for someone in one of the homes I work in to get a state ID, and that person had staff ready, willing and able to get that person to the DMV - I can imagine how difficult it can be for someone who does not have an official caregiver with a vehicle at their disposal to get that ID - close enough to impossible as makes no difference.

Whereas getting to vote can be as simple as requesting an absentee ballot and/or calling up the local senior center to arrange a carpool if the polling place isn't in easy walking distance.

meara, a friend of mine had a bedbug infestation, so researched heavily What To Do, since she had a shitload of expensive bellydancing clothing -- with spangles, beads, jewels, lace, gold thread and whatnot. It turns out, leaving the clothes in a hot car (they get easily to 120F) on a sunny day works just fine.

The rest of the house got the regular fumigation and everything is copacetic now.

This is making me laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh: [link]