The View from the Hermitage, Day 193

I'm using writing this as a brief respite from reading a very disturbing article in The Atlantic--"The Election That Could Break America." The author, Martin Gellman, describes just how bad things might get in the interregnum, the 79 days between Election Day and January 20, when the end of the sitting president's term ends and the president-elect is sworn in for the coming four years. He points out that no matter what the vote totals are, HWSNBN will never concede. Two men, HWSNBN and Joseph Biden, could show up at the Capitol on January 20 expecting to be sworn in as president. 

Gellman describes various means by which HWSNBN might disrupt the casting of in-person votes, means such as vigilantes approaching voters and discouraging them from entering a polling place to cast their votes. His views about mail-in ballots are well-known by now as is his campaign to disrupt the postal service so as to delay those ballots from arriving at registrars' offices in time to be counted. And what if governors from the same party as HWSNBN order their state's electors to vote one specific way no matter what the vote totals were. None of it is pretty, and all of it is downright frightening. There is no honor among thieves or narcissistic megalomaniacs. 

The husband spoke with someone who knows someone suffering from covid-19. The person said that he can call his friend one day, and all is well, the man will be going back to work as soon as possible. The next day, the man can't say, in a now very raspy voice, when he might be able to go back. The man has been fighting it for several weeks, and no end seems in sight. And there are people who wonder why I am keeping myself out of circulation.

I will be interacting with the world next week or the week after in order to get a flu shot. I'll make appointments at the pharmacy so that the husband, older son, and I can go in and get our three shots in one fell swoop. I could also go to my primary care physician's office, but that would mean more people to encounter. I haven't had the flu in somewhere around 30 years, but I remember well just how miserable I was. When I said I felt as if I'd been run over by a truck, I meant it.

Today was a day when, after my morning walk (7.46 miles!), nothing went as planned. In particular, no unpacking was accomplished, and none will be this evening either. I had joked with the husband that if the mixer appeared in the kitchen having been transported from the basement pantry, he would get oatmeal raisin cookies. I came in from my walk, and there it was! Just as I was ready to head to the shower, the president of the Homeowners Association called with some questions about the budget we actually do not have. There is no such thing as a short phone conversation with that woman. I kid you not--I have seen and heard her sitting on her porch on a cell call for the entire two-plus hours I am walking. When I finally got off the phone, it was time for lunch and then a shower. I had decided that I would make a double batch of cookies since that relieves me from coming up with desserts for a while. While they baked, I set up the HOA dues notices to go out next week. Eventually, I washed the dishes, forgetting the two cookie sheets and spatula and emptied the dishwasher I'd run while doing the cookies. Now, it's time to start dinner if I want to do Mongolian beef. I'd use frozen pizza as a fallback, but that's what we ate last night.

There's always something, isn't there?