Intense Heat, Greedy Billionaires, & Contaminated Lettuce

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We had a break from the intense heat yesterday, but otherwise the heat has been relentless. It’s hard to get the inside temperature below 90 during the evening.

It’s the kind of weather where you just want to turn out all the lights and sit in the dark.

Sometimes I sit at this table and eat in the dark. Kendra said she comes home from a long day of construction and that’s all she wants to do.

I don’t blame her. It’s bad enough just sitting and eating meals. So I can’t imagine what it’s like moving heavy supplies and equipment and pounding nails.

Speaking of meals, there’s no turning on the oven in this weather. Sometimes I use my toaster convection oven. It puts out some degree of heat, but nothing like a full-size stove.

I grew so used to not having the full-sized oven at that first apartment that I can manage just fine with the one sitting on the countertop. Even with that, I only cook a split muffin pizza or heat up a piece of toast, and call it a day.

Just imagine what it must have been like a hundred years ago. Pioneer women in their long skirts doing all the household stuff and cooking without all our modern conveniences.

My poor plants are getting fed up with the heat and withering. Can’t say as I blame them.

I feel terribly sorry for the outdoor cats. I’ve ordered an industrial fan to put on the porch for them. And I give them fresh water twice per day.

Kendra put up one of those roller shades on the west side of the front porch yesterday. We’re hoping it helps with those hot afternoon western rays and makes the outdoor kitties a little more comfortable.

Kendra Feeding Others

The other day, Kendra said she was driving and passed two men and a dog with a sign that said: “Please help.” She was already in a one-way lane getting onto the highway to go buy tile for a work order, so she couldn’t stop.

After that, she went to the store and bought them a cooler, sandwiches, dog food, dog bowls, water, and Gatorade. Then she went back to where she saw them and gave them the supplies.

Can you imagine how hot and hungry and worried over their dog they must have been? But then after she did all that, she didn’t have time to feed herself lunch.

I recall once in high school, after she’d gotten her driver’s license, that she did something similar. She took her lunch money and bought lunch for some homeless people she came across.

It probably wasn’t more than $5, but she did it for them instead of herself. I guess I raised that girl right.

With all the ugliness and greed going on in the world, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone thought of someone else instead of themselves?

Billionaires and Lettuce Growers

These billionaires with their data centers never seem to have enough. They just want more and more, to the detriment of the citizens of this country.

If I were their mama, I’d sit them down and give them a good talking-to.

And this business with the lettuce has me scared. I eat a salad almost every day. But with this Cyclospora, I fear the contamination.

It’s too hot to grow lettuce outside because it bolts in the heat. I don’t really eat out anymore, but I do buy produce and lettuce for salads.

When it gets cooler in the fall, I’ll be planting lettuce again. It has me thinking about getting one of those tabletop veggie growers I see online.

I don’t care that they’ve walked back the claims of contamination; I won’t be eating anything from Taylor Farms again. They’re one of the top produce companies in the US.

It seems awfully funny that they sent people to the White House, and suddenly the claims of the outbreak were wiped clean. Now who believes that?

Taylor Farms can smile all the way to the bank, but hell will freeze over before they get any of my money again.

The Doing Away of Federal Agencies

To use the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Robert Kennedy has been throwing away umbrellas in the middle of a storm left and right.

He immediately did away with the laws that were in place to protect us, and lowered the monitoring for measles, screwworm, flu, and Ebola.

The decimation of federal government agencies, among them the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA, is pure folly.

You and I were not born yesterday. These agencies were in place for a reason. And without them, these outbreaks go viral and spiral out of control.

Think of the billions of dollars that are being spent on war that could be spent on the citizens of this country.

In a few months, we have a midterm election, and I will make my voice heard loud and clear at the ballot box.

Some of these legislators who have been in the government for decades need to go. By threatening Medicare and Social Security, that can’t make them popular with the masses.

There need to be term limits on both lawmakers and Supreme Court Justices. We need fresh faces, younger brains, and new ideas.

Okay, I’m stepping away from my soapbox. I sure hope you don’t get sick in this environment we’re currently living in.