Running while white

some of my harvest including world's biggest patty pan. Also Swiss chard, eggplants and spaghetti squash

Daniel's hamster Chewybaca, an elderly little guy. We have him for a bit

sunrise over our house

best find garbage picking: two cement urns. I was 10 miles into a 26 mile ride when I saw them on a curb. Do I abort my ride or call Steve to fetch them? No I waited until the end of my ride fretting that they would disappear. But yay! still there. However they were about 50 pounds a piece and I could barely lift them

Naomi lives in a condo we bought about ten years ago. A child, a dog and a cat really wrecked the carpet so we had it removed and replaced with Perrgo floors. Would bitchy downstairs neighbor complain even though there is cement between them? She said the new carpet must be nice as she doesn't hear a thing

our pond with the Freddy the frog floating on a lilypad. Good for insect control

close up of Freddy, named by Maya

Back to thrift stores. Looks better in person. Don't know where to put it however

Maya and her friend catching bubbles

balloon flower

Indian feather

have 4 big white hibiscus I just bought a red one too

early one morning at the lake our community is named after

tiger lilies did fine this year. Asiatic lilies, not so much Still have my daylilies too

Swan family at a park we met up with Josh and his girls

Josh and his girls

I was running early one morning  on a deserted road when a sheriff slowed inched his vehicle towards me. What could he possibly want? Was he going to enforce the mask law? (no people around)No he just wanted to see if I were OK. Apparently I look like I am in distress while running. even though I was on a downhill section of my run. 

Thirteen years ago I broke my arm while running. In the ER, the attending could not believe I would be running for 'no reason' He assumed I was in an abusive relationship though at least I had the foresight to get into running clothes and shoes while being pursued. Finally the orthopedic guy showed up and said he sees me running all the time as he lived and biked on my path.

I was stopped by a sheriff once twenty five years ago while running on the state line of Indiana and Illinois. An Illinois criminal might have passed me fleeing into Indiana. Did I see that? No.

But when I was stopped the other day, I was puzzled but not afraid for my life. I guess that is white privilege. The night before Dontae's and Naomi's wedding, Dontae and his groomsmen were stopped by a cop in the town Shanna lives in, which is mostly white. Noone was speeding or driving erratically but not only was Dontae given an alcohol test, so were the passengers! No one had been drinking but if they had complained about being stopped for no reason other than being black, there would not have been a wedding the next day. Which might have been for the best given how short the marriage was.

Our country goes downhill daily. It is too depressing to listen to the news though I was amused about Trump bragging about passing the Alzheimer's screen. So like most two year olds, he can identify an elephant. I was given a similar test as part of the 'welcome to medicare' exam and was insulted. Can't they tell by speaking to me for a few minutes that I had all my marbles. A friend last year in the ER was given a quick test. Do you know what day it is? 

She said Bastille Day which although true, wasn't a day the staff had heard of. No extra credit like Trump insisted he got for remembering a list of words in the right order.

School will not open for Maya this fall though Ann Arbor is the least infected area that my grandkids live in. Tough when you are a single parent and need to work instead of monitoring on line classes. So we will be called into service more

If only we had good leadership instead of that buffoon, we could be back to normal.

We continue to be rainless  And  bonus, many over 90 days.  I spend a lot of time watering my gardens. I have been biking more as I need it to be below 65 if I run. And I usually start my runs in the dark.

I have seen my Mom's group a few times including the other night when I threw a "hamilton' party  as we have Disney plus. I had a high school stop by who I haven't seen since high school . I was a bit nervous about her as she had posted on Facebook about masks should be a personal choice like seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. Fortunately others pointed out to her that someone not wearing a helmet only hurts themselves, not others whereas her not wearing a mask could possibly spread disease. She does wear a mask to keep others happy even though she did have Covid early on. She hasn't had an antibody test.  She and her cousin showed up with masks. But I did suspect she was a Trump lover. I had started to say something negative about him and her cousin mouthed to me (no mask on by then) that she indeed was but the cousin was definitely not.

But despite our probable political differences, it was a fun afternoon.

If it weren't for covidiots.....

A kestrel As it was facing me, I had a hard time identifying it though it was making lots of kestrel noises They are beautiful golden birds. Forner name: sparrow hawk. I have lots of sparrows for it

leopard lily aka blackberry lily as it forms masses of blackberry like seeds. Really an iris

Yellow columbine. My now deceased friend had plenty of these which I tried to grow from their seed pods unsuccessfully. Finally just bought the plant.

moon flower

lots of unripe spaghetti squash

and various summer squashes

I have three areas where I am growing dill far from the butterfly bush, which hadn't even bloomed yet, a swallowtail favorite. I found swallowtail larvae on all of my plants, two kinds of swallowtail at that. Fortunately they were too small to do that much damage but in just a few days, the dill would have been gone and I would have caterpillars the size of my little finger.

Kaya looking regal

the girls came over on the only day in 2 weeks that it rained here, thus indoor activities

cleome smells like a skunk and has thorns on it but very pretty

my running road and part of the deer family

twin bambis

morning view from my cabana

My cabana at night lit with a solar globe

If it weren't for Covidiots, I would be up north doing my bike ride. Alas canceled as so many things are and will be no thanks to extremely poor leadership at the federal level. I can't fault our governor, the best there is, but these covidiots are impossible to stop. She (the governor) will now mandate inside public place mask usage or the store and maskless one gets fined $500. The fly in the ointment is if you have a medical reason, you don't need a mask. But you don't have to prove the medical reason. Some stupid woman says that she has a heart condition so she will continue to go to stores maskless. And if we don't like it, we should stay home. I so hope she get it.  This is what I have resorted to, wishing hideous diseases on people. To be fair, these individuals are killers spreading their disease around before they succumb. I delight in cautionary tales of idiots who say they aren't wearing any f**king mask and then are dying painfully of the disease a few weeks later. My favorite was some county commissioner down south who was the deciding vote against his county wearing masks. He got it and his daughter on Facebook with send prayers as he is in the hospital dying. Some answered, prayers wasn't what he needed, the mask was. And if he is relying on prayer, please free up the hospital bed for one of his victims.

Meanwhile one of Steve's many cousins probably has it and pleaded for help as he is the sole caretaker of his disabled adult son. Aside from the Covid possibility, he has so many comorbidities that living much past 60 is a stretch. So you think he would have had a plan in place for his son.. For now his son is being taken care of.

Should schools open? The schools that open early have been n the South but Covid is running rampant there as education levels are very low, Trump support high, trust in the medical authorities non existent. We will see if they open. The Education Secretary says to open them as only a few kids will die. This woman, Devoid as she is called as she is devoid of common sense, empathy, intelligence, made her fortune by marrying into a rich family that profited off of pyramid schemes..Evil all around. And she is from Michigan, a pustule on our state. The west part of the state. We in the southeast, particularly in Ann Arbor, wear our masks.

I have been gardening a lot. As there has been very little rain, a lot of time has been spent watering. My flowers though look nice. We did have a mother's group spaced out on a huge deck watching orioles, grosbeaks, hummingbirds and fireflies so that was nice.