Lots of things are happening right now.
Today, I took Charlie up to St. George, Utah for a gastro-esophageal “scope job” to inspect the hiatal hernia that’s been driving her nuts. She survived the procedure and the doc shared with us the results: she has a significant problem down there, one that would normally demand surgery in a younger person.
Charlie is going on 78 and has numerous medical issues that might preclude her going through another major surgery. She wants to do the surgery anyway because, as she says, “I can’t live like this!” We are going to have a consultation with a surgeon in a few weeks to get his opinion.
It’s a tough call, but it’s hers to make.
In the meanwhile, I am driving her to Las Vegas in the morning for her flight to Lexington, Kentucky to represent the Manning family at our granddaughter Autumn’s wedding on Oct 1st. It will be an adventure for her since she has never really traveled much without me. Our son Jonathan, Autumn’s dad, will help Charlie.
I am scheduled for cataract surgery next Wednesday. The doc in St. George will do one eye at that time and the other eye a week later. Hopefully, there will be no issues. Charlie had it done a few years ago, it went smoothly, and the visual benefits to her were immediate. I’m hoping for the same.
Our extensive desert landscaping here at 961 Buggy Whip Court took a beating this Summer. When we got home, I noticed about a dozen plants that had croaked. I assumed it was a heat/irrigation problem until I began to dig up the dead plants. That was when I discovered grubs, a lot of them, in the root balls. Those little suckers, which look like curled-up slugs, have a healthy appetite for plant roots. They are practically the only bugs we have out here in the desert with the exception of ants.
I have ordered from Amazon a 1-1/2-gallon fertilizer/insecticide diffuser unit which works in-line with the drip irrigation system to infuse the water with stuff to kill off the underground bugs and nourish the plants. It will do its thing every time the drip irrigation system switches from Off to On. The equipment costs about $400 and will be installed by my landscape maintenance guy “Kenedy”.
My best friend Mac, who lives down the street, has contracted something called Meniere’s Disease, which is a condition where the victim is assaulted by periodic vertigo and dizziness. Mac, who regularly hikes long distances, rides his bike about 50 miles per session, and who plays guitar and sings at the local coffee shop, can’t do any of that stuff right now. He is pretty much housebound, afraid to venture out lest he fall down and can’t get up. I am committed to buddying up with Mac to see his through this thing until his EENT specialists can figure out how to stop the torment.
Count your blessings, Folks!
We’ve signed up again to do a 30-day stint in the RV next September in Oceanside, California. This will give us a chance to visit lots of So Calif friends and relatives who we only see once per year. It will also allow us to escape the September heat in Mesquite, which normally sees temperatures in the 90’s. Instead of our normal 3,000 mile round-trip to the Oregon Coast, the trip to/from So Calif is only about 700 miles total.
Speaking of hot temperatures in September, we will be visiting California while the 2024 Presidential election is heading toward its conclusion. It promises to be a “barn burner”.
As hard as it is to believe, it looks like old goats Joe Biden and Donald Trump will again be throwing political haymakers in that Fall election. Personally, I have a hard time believing that the Democrats would nominate a 78-year-old guy to carry their banner and that the Republican Party would nominate a guy who did a crappy job when he was President, got himself impeached twice, incited the January 6th 2021 Capitol Riot, has never conceded that he lost the 2020 election to Mr. Biden, and is currently facing very significant civil and criminal indictments in New York, Washington D.C., Georgia, and Florida. He is a bum, but lots of Republicans like bums, evidently.
As much as Trump likes to poke fun at President Biden for being “so old”, the ex-President (yeah, he lost to Biden by 7 million votes) is, himself, an old man (he’s my age, for God’s sake). If Trump were to be elected in 2024, he would be the oldest President to ever take office and would be in his 80’s by the end of his term.
Does our country really need Presidential leadership from guys who are probably wearing Depends? Both act pretty confused while in public, one fumbling over his lines and the other one pretending to live in an alternate reality. Can’t we do better than these two stiffs?
I took the three dogs to the vet yesterday. While the vet was giving them their annual physicals, he broached the subject of the upcoming Presidential election. I was surprised and apprehensive, as I really don’t like to discuss politics with total strangers… who knows where they’re coming from, what hostility may be there, etc. Anyway, Dr. Steye of raised the issue of the two candidates’ OLD AGE and asked me if I though that Joe Biden would be the Democratic candidate when November, 2024 rolls around.
I told him that I didn’t think so.
My theory is that Biden is only running again because his opponent would be Trump, who he already beat handily in 2020. If Trump were not the G.O.P. nominee, I think Biden would drop out in favor of a younger Democrat candidate.
In my opinion, Trump is running again as some kind of perceived hedge against all the legal peril he is in right now. He believes that he can try those cases in public and intimidate the court system with his antics and his rabid fan base. Trump believes (and he might be right) that he can bully the criminal justice system into dropping the charges, just as he has routinely bullied the courts in his business career.
Donald Trump, in my opinion, doesn’t want to be President again but, as a narcissist, it is imperative that he remain the billionaire big-shot that he has convinced everyone that he is. I base this upon his past record (he really did not enjoy the scrutiny he received as C.E.O. of our American democracy) and the many statements he has made recently, making it clear that he wants to turn the U.S.A. into a “strong man” regime, decimating human rights, and punishing “disloyal” opponents like the Press, judges who have not kowtowed to him, and Democratic elected officials who twice impeached him.
The guy does not love America or democracy, just himself, which he reminds us of each day with his inane social media comments.
I suspect that Trump will be in a legal hot mess by Spring, 2023. He just lost a big civil trial this week, where his family business has been ordered shuttered in New York. The penalty phase of this case is yet to be played out, but Trump could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for cooking the books, overinflating asset values, and underpaying taxes. This is a State of New York matter, so it will be impossible for Trump to get bailed out by his lackeys on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump is also dodging potential felony charges In Washington D.C. for his role in inciting the January 6 2020 Capitol Riot. Many participants have already received prison sentences for that insurrection. Then there is the mishandling of “Top Secret” documents case in Florida, another Federal judicial matter. These are potential felony convictions if things go south of the ex-Prez.
His biggest felony exposure is probably the election extortion case in Georgia. The extortion attempt was tape recorded by the Governor of Georgia, so Trump will have his work cut out for him to avoid jail time.
I think that there will come a point where the whole sorry mess will become so stinky that the Republican Party will have to bail on Donald Trump. When that happens, I would not be surprised if Biden then opts out, and two fresh faces will be put up by the two dominant political parties.
My guess would be Governor Gavin Newsom of California for the Democrats squaring off against ex-South Carolina Governor/U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. That race would probably be a toss-up, and I could probably live with either one of them.
Well, we have another year to shake this thing out.
Until then, we will just keep our heads down and enjoy life here in the Nevada desert.