Quite Possibly a Rout in the Making
All indications are we're heading for a rout on November 3rd with Democrats poised to take back the White House and quite possibly the Senate. I'm feeling more confident about that with each passing day as Trump's poll numbers continue to sink while he shows us, again and again, his incompetency to lead and his complete lack of fitness for the presidency. He actually called for the indictment of his rival, Joe Biden last week as well as others for their role in the Russia investigation; an investigation the Republican-led Senate said was justified. He's refusing to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses. He's recently referred to our service members as "suckers and losers" and he's refused to condemn white supremacists. And yet people still support him. What am I failing to understand?
The demand for absentee ballots has never been anywhere near as high as the levels we're seeing. In spite of all of the attempts by Republicans to suppress the vote, people are pushing through those barriers and making their voices heard, and that's Trump's most feared scenario. The more people vote, the better the Democrats do.
The only real concern I have is the delay we can expect between in-person tallies on the eve of the election and mail-in tallies that will be reported over the week following election day. A poll I saw stated only 28% of Republicans plan to vote by mail compared to 62% of Democrats who plan to mail in their ballots. I would expect we'll see a higher number of votes for Trump on election night, feeding into his false narrative that the election is being stolen from him as mail-in tallies eventually overcome his election-eve results in the days following the election.
I had a busy week last week taking care of outdoor projects. The main project was one I'd been putting off until the heat of summer had subsided: rebuilding a garden block wall for our backyard flower garden. I built the wall in the early 2000s and it was fine until a few years ago when a tilt began to appear on one side. I disassembled it last Wednesday and began the work of rebuilding it.
Tammy and I had a good laugh watching the Vice Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence when a fly appeared on Pence's white head of hair. It sat there for 2 minutes, totally stealing the show and likely causing people watching to not at all notice the words Pence was saying. What a fun moment that was! Yeah, we laughed out loud, a lot, as did much of the country.
I assumed the ground beneath the wall had sunk and caused the tilt but that wasn't what happened. The problem was that, over the years, dirt from the garden had worked its way beneath the garden blocks causing a buildup of dirt and heaving the blocks to one side. I had placed a protective barrier between the dirt and the blocks to prevent that but for whatever reason, it eventually failed. I used a barrier of sand this time between the blocks and the dirt. I finished the job by using our power washer to rid the blocks of nearly 20 years of grime and moss buildup. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.
The other outdoor project I'm working on is the typical fall cleanup of fallen leaves, trimming back our many hostas, and clearing our flower gardens. It's always a lot of work. Strong winds the past two days have filled our yard with leaves again and as soon as I finish posting this, I'll be back out there working to vacuum them up ahead of trash day tomorrow. I'm certain the trash man is never pleased when he sees what I have for him each week this time of year. COVID be damned! In appreciation, I ran him out a Gatorade when I saw him last week.
Steve and I were golfing at Bellwood Oaks last Friday when he called me over to take a look at what he was seeing—an eagle standing in shallow water along the 13th hole. It's not uncommon to see them flying overhead but I seldom see them on the ground like that. We're heading back to Winona this Wednesday to play The Bridges. The autumn colors should be brilliant and with any luck, we'll see an eagle—we may even score one!
That's all I've got.
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