Fini

Beltane                                                           Moon of the Summer Solstice

stacksSwipes forehead with bandana. Since May 20th wildfire mitigation has been an almost daily project. Today, June 14th, I stacked the final logs, trying to place them so that if a wildfire occurs before Seth and Hannah can claim them, they won’t literally add fuel to the fire. So, as of today, I’m declaring the fire mitigation I began last fall over. For now.

stacks2There are other matters to address. The limbs on remaining trees, screens on our vents and clearing needles out of the gutters, but those are not for right now. Today I’m celebrating the finish line for a major chunk of work.

That garage is next. Finally bringing an organizing hand to the last remaining bastion of post-move chaos. A few niggling inside matters, too. Room for a good bit more work there, but all in its own time.

American Horror Story

Beltane                                                Moon of the Summer Solstice

Here’s another strange phenomenon with the American nightmare. Each time a mass shooting happens, no matter the apparent motivation, no matter the carnage, pro-gun forces use it to emphasize how we need more guns. And, in another very peculiar and sad phenomenon, organizations like the NRA convince gun owners or would be gun owners that the ensuing backlash will, this time, restrict weapons purchases. The result? More people buy guns.

This is a world of inverted value, a world in which George Orwell would have felt at home, a world of a never ending Feast of Fools. Common sense notions like people use guns to kill other people become a rallying cry for increasing gun ownership.

The American dream. Yes, a true and continuing nightmare from which we seem unable to awake. Gunpowder falls over us like an evil pixie dust. People die beneath its enchantment. What other than a curse could explain the twisted logic we find in our newspapers, our online news sources?

Into this toxic environment clomps the drum major of fear’s dark parade: Donald Trump. Could he be the Lord of Misrule who finally captures real power? If we wish to sleep peacefully in our own beds, he had better be stopped. Otherwise angry dreams will more and more intrude on waking life, making this great country a Day of the Dead version of itself.