Milo and Otis were two kitties who showed up at the dumpster outside the SPCA. They had the notched ears of feral kitties who've been neutered but, given that the dumpster was outside the SPCA, the staff took up feeding them. Then during our cold snap, the staff decided to bring them in from the cold. The bros took to indoor life and they were put up for adoption as a couple. It's hard to find homes for adult cats, and finding homes for bonded adults can be really difficult. But it being the holiday season, they managed to find a home that would take both of them in. I hope that Milo and Otis, having eaten breakfast, are having their morning naps on their new humans' bed.
I'm not surprised that Obama managed to do little more than George W would have on health care and climate change. Republicans and Democrats share so many assumptions that it only matters at the margins which of them is in power. What's most interesting is that the last two years should have demonstrated why so many of those beliefs are so entirely silly. But nooo, they just keep shoveling resources to the screw-ups and hoping that those of us who are not of the Tea Party persuasion will just retreat to our living rooms with a cup of tea and a long Russian novel. "J, where's my copy of War and Peace?"
The Winter Solstice was celebrated appropriately at our house. On December 21, at exactly 9:47 AM (PST), I went into the living room and turned the Solstice Tree topper from the moon to the sun. We've purchased a new Solstice Tree, a Colorado blue spruce, which should grow slowly over the next few years, thus remaining an appropriate size for our house. I got tired of cut trees, as the trees must have been cut down in October and so were fire hazards by mid-December.
Emma and Dash continued their Solstice tradition of knocking ornaments off the tree--usually two or three every night. It appears that Emma was the primary culprit, rising at some time around 2:30 AM, heading out to the tree, and making her selections for the night. She had successfully blamed Dash for the tree carnage, but I caught her at it one night. She didn't even try to deny it, sitting proudly before the floored ornament.
This week I really will be working on my other blog. I promised to have it finished by Christmas, but have been inordinately lazy lately.
Oh, I came across a really good book, thanks to Doug Henwood's Left Business Observer. It's Our Lot, by Alyssa Katz. At a couple of points, it's irritating, as when she asserts that houses have doubled in size over the last x number of years. As any number of people have pointed out, that's because new houses are built exclusively for the move-up market and entry-level buyers purchase the older, smaller houses. In fact, the space people actually live in has increased by one room--not a major change. And of course, in discussing her former status as a tenant, she describes the rental building (converted to empty condominium units) as inhabited by proper creative class types, as though those folks are deserving of greater protection than, say, retail clerks and janitors. But it's generally a GREAT book and, in the last chapter, she nails it:
"...If the government doesn't act to prop up home prices, a collapse and resulting foreclosures will claim millions more victims and their neighborhoods. But if officials do successfully intervene to keep prices high--and so far, that is exactly what has happened--the cycle of extreme debt continues and deepens. The unprecedentedly high price of real estate consigns future generations to the same trap, huffing on a treadmill of debt..."
Sacramento is having an unusual cold snap. Lows have been in the mid-20s for a couple of days now, and the high hasn't made it to 50 degrees. Hibiscus has been turning black, bougainvillea shriveling, and even the mandarin orange crop may be decimated. People in colder parts of the country are laughing at us, but we're not used to the cold. We're used to chilly nights (in the high 30s), but we're not used to having the wear coats at mid-day.
There was measurable snow in the foothills. My friend A and her husband drove up to take pictures. You can see the video here. Play it full screen to see the flurries.
I seldom hope for a Republican victory on any issue, but the health care reform package that's being developed just ain't worth the trouble. It doesn't cut costs one cent, increases the power and influence of the insurance companies, won't insure most of the uninsured at a price they can afford, and just leaves things largely as they are until rising prices for drugs, doctors and medical procedures bankrupt the country.
My particular favorite was the "agreement" made by Big Pharma to reduce drug prices by some $80 million. Then they immediately raised drug prices so that the $80 billion is less than the money they'll get from the increased prices. Way to go, Democrats!
The great J, who cooks my meals, lifts heavy objects, digs up and moves plants over six inches after planting them the wrong place because I told him to etc. was 61 yesterday. Happy Birthday, Old Guy.
The more I'm in Sacramento, the more I like Portland. It's a prettier place, my skin doesn't dry out so much, and there's more to do. After all, Sacramento's main tourist attractions(!) are the State Capitol and the Railroad Museum. Oh, gee, we could go to San Francisco and ride a cable car and go to Golden Gate Park and Coit Tower--or we could go to the Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Not much of a contest.
Anyway, we noted that the housing in all but the most remote suburbs and a few infill projects is much older than the housing in Sacramento. I wondered why and sent off a request for information from the Sacramento Public Library's AskUs email reference service. My working hypothesis was that Portland had a much larger population much earlier and, consequently, more housing in the early years of the 20th century. The wonderful James at AskUs sent me the population figures and on reading them, I discovered that I was right. While Sacramento now has a population of more than 400,000 souls, the population was only about 80,000 in 1940. In 1940, Portland's population just above 300,000, and it has grown to 529,000 in 2009. Unfortunately I'm perfectly willing to give up crown molding and other evidence of "charm" for adequate plumbing, wiring, and sliders leading from the living room to the garden. (Prior to the 1920s the back yard was the midden, which is why it's off the back porch, with no window out to the yard. Only the servants' quarters looked out on the garbage pile.) I even want a dishwasher, though it means that I will permanently lose another skill, this time the ability to do all the dishes from a dinner party for four at one time, stacking plates, glasses and cooking pots into a single dish drainer.
I haven't blogged for a month. And it's not as if nothing happened--it's just that I was too lazy to write about it. The weather has been pretty normal for fall here--warm to hot some days, cooler others. But we also had an unusual storm, the remnants of a cyclone, that dumped three inches of rain on Sacramento in a couple of days, and 40 mph winds. That's not much for most places, but for Sacramento--a desert climate--it's major. The plants loved it and so did the humans, mostly. The cats were split, with Emma sitting in the window to get the full picture, while Dash retreated to the Panic Room (linen closet) for the duration. Dash is only three, so his experience has been of drought; a lot of rain is very strange for him.
Fall here also means that some of the spring bloomers bloom again. The roses, which took a break during the heat of the summer, are putting out a few tentative blooms, and if the weather is moderate (doesn't turn too cold), they should bloom until mid-December. Pelargoniums are also in bloom, but the hardy geraniums appear to be going dormant. I'm experimenting with diascia, which I grew in Oakland. It bloomed for months there, but here not so much. In fact, it keels over dead in the heat--of May! I purchased one plant and am going to see if it does better in the fall to spring--as a cool season bloomer.
The trees have been turning color. J and I took a drive to the foothills last weekend, hoping to see some fall color. We did--green and brown. Most foothill natives are either evergreen or oaks, and oak leaves just turn brown and fall off the tree. (I know this well, as I have an oak tree in the back yard and have been sweeping up oak leaves and picking them out of the plant pots for several weeks now.) But I did visit Georgetown for the very first time, and determined that I wouldn't want to have to commute from there to Sacramento. The road out is winding and narrow, and would be less than enjoyable in the dark. It's a pretty drive though, on Sunday afternoon, with little traffic and no deadline.
I also replanted the same section of the back yard that I replanted last October. I wasn't happy with it again, so I ripped it out and started over. This year's version has retained the tree mallow from last year (which suffered some damage in the storm), which has been joined by a fringe flower, butterfly bush, ceanothus and cistus. I wonder if people will starting putting money on whether I tear out this incarnation next year.
On the various issues of the day:
1. I'm amazed that we're getting such a lousy health insurance reform. It's not even going to cover everyone, and it's going to provide more subsidies to the health insurance industry (which hasn't done an exactly stellar job to date). What are these people thinking? I know, it's all about the campaign contributions, but do the "moderate" Democrats and President Obama have to be so obvious about it?
2. Afghanistan. Sending more troops is likely to strengthen the Taliban. Worked for the Soviets--now we can do it too.
3. Our local planning administration gave the go-ahead to a Nestle bottled water plant, which will take our tap water (yes, tap water), pay industrial rates for it (very cheap), and then re-sell it to us for premium prices. As it turns out, the administration fast-tracked the process and no one found out what had happened until the facility was half-built. Aside from the fact that we're on water restrictions because of the drought, the bottled water "industry" is one of the most worthless wastes of money ever conceived. Right up there with Credit Default Swaps. Even the little town of McCloud managed to keep Nestle out. We'll probably end up doing what Bolivia did to get rid of Bechtel--pay them money to leave. Bolivia at least had the excuse that the World Bank forced them to do it. And Sacramento is a world-class city. Uh huh.
Milo and Otis were two kitties who showed up at the dumpster outside the SPCA. They had the notched ears of feral kitties who've been neutered but, given that the dumpster was outside the SPCA, the staff took up feeding them. Then during our cold snap, the staff decided to bring them in from the cold. The bros took to indoor life and they were put up for adoption as a couple. It's hard to find homes for adult cats, and finding homes for bonded adults can be really difficult. But it being the holiday season, they managed to find a home that would take both of them in. I hope that Milo and Otis, having eaten breakfast, are having their morning naps on their new humans' bed.
