All the neighborhoods around me have been absolutely under siege today. So many abductions. They’re at health clinics and businesses, snatching up Uber drivers as they’re making a drop off. On bikes on the 606 (an old elevated railroad track that’s been turned into a walking and biking path). It’s so fucking awful. We’re all carrying our whistles with us and sharing all the information we can about sightings and needs. There’s some alternate Halloween celebrations going on and a lot of neighborhood networks to deliver things to people who are not comfortable going outside or picking up their kids from school. Local tow trucks are offering to tow people‘s cars away from places where ice has been sighted.

Our own ChiKat had her car staked out by ICE last weekend during the marches. A lot of us who have privilege to use have been putting Mexican flag decals on our cars for exactly this reason - if we can at least waste their time or prevent someone else from being targeted, that’s something.

And with apologies for the whiplash - I am headed out at ass o’clock tomorrow morning for a quick b-day weekend in Temecula with some old family friends, followed by a work conference in Anaheim. After like five days of slightly cool weather, I am ready for the sunshine.

I hope you have a great trip, brenda, and good on you for looking out for your neighbors.

I suspect I should buy a bunch of whistles and put them in a basket on my fence. I know they say the surge isn't happening, but ICE is already here anyway, and my neighborhood is full of immigrants.

In other news, the last few weeks at work have been utterly draining. This week we got sent home for the last few days because of the protests, and that's been nice except I forgot my home desk chair needs lumbar support. I forgot the pillow, and ended up shutting down early because my back bothered me too much.

Spending the weekend dogsitting for my sister, so I'm on her cozy couch with the lorge golden retriever crashed out nearby and the Tornado in the yard. (Although she did just bark, might have to bring her in.). The golden likes her, but he doesn't want to play as long as she does, and he ends up hiding from her...

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday Kate!

Yay for Tim!

I am feeling blue. This weekend is the Ohio Valley Filk Fest. I had been intending to go, but since I am in mourning, I can't. Gary left on Tuesday for the latest round of code hearings, and won't be back until next Thursday. Work has been as busy as ever, despite the shut down. To top it off, Asshole Neighbor is at it again. Despite Gary's request to stop putting his evangelical junk mail in our box, he's still at it. He is also continuing to harass us about our lawn. This time he scrawled it on a piece of mail addressed to Gary that he claimed was placed in his mailbox by accident.(Even if it was, that does not give him the right to use it as a loophole around the "don't put notes on our door" statement.)

I will try to not eat my weight in dessert as a response.

My ballot has been counted, take that DOJ!

I have spent some of my cashed-in-PTO extra $ on subscriptions to support writers I like, trinkets to support artists I like, new glasses because a stem broke and my prescription expired, and a replacement car remote to make my life easier. Back to austerity for a while.

Sometimes I think back to James Spader’s speech about keys in sex, lies, and videotape and wonder if our whole society is embracing abdicating responsibility by getting rid of keys. I guess we still have the keys in the form of passwords. Which we store outside our brains whenever we can. Hm.

There is reason to celebrate this day, for today is brenda m's birthday! I hope you are having a wonderful birthday weekend. May this year bring an abundance of joy.

It is my daily wish that peace and sanity are restored in our cities and country. Here in the Adirondacks, we see no ICE. The immigrant population is Eastern European, which apparently doesn't present the horrific danger that other ethnic groups bring. Brendon deals with the stress his high school athletes face every day, and it takes a serious toll on him and all around him. Kids don't know if their parents will be there when they get home, and parents won't let the kids out of the house. Every day, a new horror. I am so grateful for those who support each other in their communities. I don't know what it is going to take for the powers that be to say, "Enough is enough," and finally stop the madness.

To top it off, Asshole Neighbor is at it again.

I'm sorry. I see these neighbors and know their deplorable beliefs, but I don't have to deal with direct harassment.

Happy birthday, brenda! I hope Anaheim and Temecula treat you right!

Happy Birthday, brenda! Hope it is super fun and the harbinger of good things to come.

Happy birthday, brenda! I hope it's festive as fuck!

Rainy day in SF. I celebrated the weather by sitting in my window seat, drinking coffee and eating lilac/lemon shortbread.

Lunch will most probably be one of the little plastic tubs I got at Bi-Rite, either the grilled corn salad with kale, or the four bean salad (Note for -t: Green Beans, Black Beans, Kidney Beans, Garbanzo), or the beets with orange and goat cheese.