I swear DeSantis is taking kick backs from the grim reaper.

Right.

Not here on my side of Michigan. But some school districts did say that those who chose not to vaccinate might end up teaching only online students. I have no idea of that moved any of them to vaccinate or not, but some districts have close to 100% of faculty vaxed. Many couldn't wait, and a couple of districts closed down for a week so everyone could do it, stay home, and then not worry about finding substitute teachers and parapros. They then staggered the 2nd dose and took a four day weekend in order to not need a lot of subs.

Bingo!

Well, making sense really isn't the forte of our political establishment!

Due to covid, super crowded protests are right now off limits to us since we have a medically fragile grandmother we could infect. I do a lot of phone call, email, etc. I raised cain at county Commissioner meetings when they were going to make some REALLY bad environmentally devastating decisions in order to make a few dollars for the county. In the end, we were able to thwart that. In my region, there aren't any national groups that are active. But one thing I have been involved with is Great Lakes conservation and care. That has included clean up days at beaches, rivers, creeks picking up trash, particularly plastic, and supporting Senator Stabenow's efforts to get the feds on board. I'd like to go smack industries in Cleveland who have once again, made another stab at killing Lake Stir with their dumping. How many times does this have to happen before Ohio decides.beat the financial cap out of these companies???? The Great Lakes are 22% of the world's fresh water so just maybe they ought not be destroyed! Enbridge can kiss my a$$! I will absolutely protest at the Mackinac Bridge over this. I just have to find a way to not bring covid home to my mother in law. I am all ears. I would like to find a way to advocate for more investment in rail.

Oh ugh! Sorry that happened.

Yes. I hate Alexa, and the device has creeped me out more than once when it was listening and then began talking out of the blue. As a roommate, I would not agree to it, and it would be a major issue if a roommate insisted on having one.

Agreed. It is the "I want to ignore protocols, act Like nothing is happening, not give a crap about the rest of humanity, not vax, AND not have a single consequence for doing it" that makes my head spin. Very narcissistic. That just isn't how it works. Thousands of years of human history attest to this. France just passed their covid pass. QR codes are provided for those who are vaccinated, show antibodies, or have had a very recent negative PCR test, and it will.be required to use public transportation, visit anyone in the hospital, etc. People are protesting in Paris, but they kind of brought this on themselves with their refusal to so anything at all to stop the spread. I expect other countries to follow suit. It didn't have to come to this, and there will be very bad ripple effects. With what appears to be a 10-15% chance of developing long covid on top of the death toll and now higher transmission rates in children, it was inevitable if people were not going to "row together" as the saying goes. It is frightening, sickening, and maddening!

Fantastic job!

Spot on, Rosie!

We don't have that in our area. We live in a place that had very, very few public services or safety nets.

Not sure. Researching, seeing what the township allows. I doubt the grandmothers are going to do much more then keep cobbling together some kind of lawn service. We will try to change things here, and since we will sell at a loss when Mark does retire, whatever it is will be as inexpensive as we can make it. I am definitely going to look at clover. The mothers are 77 and 85. Not easy for them to change, and running out of savings. If they don't have anyone for next weekend, we will let it go and hope it doesn't outgrow the way too short maximum height at the township demands. Then I will call a couple of teen boys I know who might want some extra money and see if they are willing to push mow at the grandmothers while I get ours done. We have a family wedding on Saturday - small group, everyone vaxed - and then I have a gig piano job on Sunday (accompanying a violinist for a livestream and Mark is going with me, college boys are on a camping trip), so it will wait until that Monday for us to work something out. There is someone who mods the church around the corner for pay, so I am going to see if that person would be interested in the job.

And I think for older folks it is very difficult. My mother in law does not drive anymore. There is no one coming to her door to get her if there is an evacuation in this rural area. So she is stuck until we can get her. Thankfully, so far, no wildfires close by, but she is surrounded by 20 acres of forest so it could happen, especially because we have idiots that will set their ditches on fire to kill weeds when there are fire bans!! Sometimes they caught and fined. But that doesn't really do much for the fact that a fire started. And of course mobility alone is an issue especially when one talks about hurrying, time being of the essence. We have extremely limited police and fire services, and are 2 hrs from the nearest national guard base. Add to it that this area is not politically important to leadership, and well, there isn't any going door to door or into neighborhoods asking who needs assistance. So I do get how the logistics can be very difficult even insurmountable for some folks.

My mom's place, even at the height of the market, is not worth enough to get her a senior living apartment or condo. Our current house in Michigan is not conducive to her living with us. No privacy. Her house is worth about $40,000, up from the $20,000 two years ago. Not a penny more. Senior apartments rent at close to $1000 a month which she cannot afford. Senior condos are selling at $125,000 which she does not have. Mother in law also cannot move in with us without significant handicap accessibility remodeling being addressed, and no privacy is an issue especially considering privacy. The place in Alabama was purchased to allow multi generational living once we can permanently move. Mark cannot retire for five years unless he is offered an early retirement buyout that includes health insurance. This year's buyout was not offered to his age group. And we are trying to help. If you read my post, they had contracted for it to be done, and the lawn service was a no go. I was just venting about my weekend, and the upkeep of lawns in general. No need to come down on them about it. They tried, and we are making phone calls to see if we can find another service or student to do it.

I think I would be all for Sid the Science , Bill Nye the Science guy vids, Magic School Bus, NOVA, and a few others because kids engage so they retain. What have now is simply not working. Lots of memorization of vocabulary for the test, but no practical knowledge.

I had one missed at the ER. For some reason I managed to name the president, but I couldn't remember my birthday, phone number, or parents' names. But, I was turned because I named the president, and then ended up back in the from vomiting and repeatedly passing out. Oy! Too many verbal tests are worthless.

This is sadly very, very true.

And needles!!!! We only have one pine, a blue spruce, but my mother in law has a ton of white pines it is just a sea of needles which doesn't seem to bother that dratted grass, but kills off other vegetation. Ugh.

I know, I don't understand that either. We have that here on Lake Michigan where there is so much erosion that many houses are threatened, and some have collapsed. But people keep building right on the lake/beach/bluffs/dunes. Who is insuring this mess, and why do people honestly think their kids will inherit anything but a disaster? It like watching grown adults embrace teenage invincibility. I fear that every year the wildfires are going to get worse and worse. Some areas need to see a very significant drop in population.

I think a bigger issue is religious influence because evangelicalism encourages the rejection of the scientific method, climate change, etc. While some denominations and religions do not encourage this, a lot of them do, especially those associated with the holiness movement, dominionism, and end times mythology. So I think that the rigidity is religiously based not so much associated with gaps in education. That said, we don't do a good job of teaching basic science in this country, much less critical thinking skills.

HOA's and township zoning boards can be quite the power tripping jerks! I think for starters, I may just get some of those quick growing juniper things and finish out the property line on the only side we share with someone else. Then dig up a large patch and plant something. Anyone think I can get away with a half acre of day lilies? 😂 those things spread like crazy around here.

I can't speak for our school district. I am not up to speed on their enrollment at the moment, and have been outside the homeschool community for a while. But, I do know enrollment is up a ton at two community colleges and the university closest to us. From what has been said on their social media, it looks like a record number of high schoolers taking D.E. on top of the tuition incentives for essential workers from the state. The D.E. makes sense to me because if a parent is worried about the lack of protocols at the high schools, full time D.E. puts their student either in college classrooms where masks are required and other protocols are in place or in online classes that are way better than what the high schools provide.

I think that this fall when shrubs and ornamental trees go half price, I am going to see what we can afford to reduce grass space. If I thought the township would not get bent out of joint, I would rent a back hoe, upturn everything, rent the roller, pat it down, and have dirt for a year! 😁 I am pretty sure that would make the neighbors really unhappy. If we weren't going to be going back and forth between his house and the Alabama house, I would have far more raised beds for veggies. But, we won't be around to attend them. I just simply need to get going on the research for what we can do to eliminate lawn, and then find someone reliable for the grandmothers. They both insist, for now, on age in place and mother in law cannot so a thing. My mom is actually still mobile she just doesn't have a lot of stamina. So I mow it with the riding mower, but she at least gets her easy start self a propelled walking mower out and goes around the trees, and next to her three flower beds. We tried to talk them into selling one house and combining households, but then mother in law started with signs of dementia and health began going downhill. We didn't want mom to end up doing a lot of care giving by default of rooming together.

I would consider it if it wasn't going to attract aggressive insects like hornets, wasps, yellow jackets, etc. Mark is allergic. We do okay with honey bees and bumblebees because they are so good natured.