Making It Up As I Go Along #686

So if course, in less than nine months of presidency, Donald Trump has threatened nuclear war on another nation.  Though news agencies won’t actually acknowledge that.  They keep repeating the terms Fire and Fury… as if they’re taking his threat to North Korea literally.  That Trump will go to North Korea himself, dressed up like Rambo with a flame thrower in hand.  Not once did I hear the people at CNN speak plainly on the fact that their president threatened to use nuclear weapons.

He’s an idiot with nuclear toys.  A bully aiming to come off as cool.  Fire and Fury… Locked and Loaded.  It’s just all too much.

And then, of course, you get the Trump supporters on CNN.  One guy quoting how Obama once told the North Koreans that “we could destroy you” and still, none of the liberal media took issue with that.  Frustratingly, nobody on that panel took issue with that guy either.  Because the Obama quote continued from the “destroy you” part.  In fact, he didn’t even say it in a manner of speaking directly to North Korea.  He said “we could destroy them”… talking to a reporter.  And knowing how huge the US military is, it’s hardly a shocking fact to hear.  But what the Trump supporter left out was that Obama then went on to say how doing such a thing is inhumane.  And would also put the allies in South Korea in danger… so a diplomatic solution needs to be worked on.

So, Trump shill, that is why the liberal media didn’t freak out.  Obama was saying America has the power to destroy a nation but can’t go down that path.  Donald Trump is picking a fight with a crazy man while trying to come up with “cool” sounding catch phrases of power.  He’s a spoiled, rich, thirteen year old bully in a 70 year old body… with toys powerful enough to end the world and enough ignorance to make the rest of us worry he may just do it.

Anyway, enough of World War III.  Thar be turtles within my pond!  Well… one turtle anyway… in the pond across the street from my house.  It’s the first time since I moved to Trailsedge that I’ve seen a turtle in any of the ponds here.

In four days, I saw him sunning on a rock three times.  Of course, the one day I went out with my camera was the one day he wasn’t there.  And the zoom on an iPhone just isn’t worth the time.  And any closer than twenty feet from him, and little Mr. Turtle simply stepped off the rock and slipped into the murky water.  He’s a cautious little fellow.

So in honour of the turtle…

Turtle
Steps
Into the murk
Out of fear
Of me

Smiles
Across my face
Summer Christmas
Seeing him

The pet
I never had
In childhood times
Steps away

Legs
Mosquito gorged
The price I pay
To catch a glimpse

Making It Up As I Go Along #685

Actually back on the laptop to write this one.  First time I’ve written a post on the laptop in about two years.  All others have been done on the iPad, in that time.  Part of the reason for that being the slowness of my laptop.  But I turned it on, yesterday, for the first time in two months, and it’s working pretty well.  So I figured “why not”.

Cough is just about gone.  I’m down to an occasional, throat clearing type of cough.  And it isn’t interrupting my talking with coughing spurts anymore.  One month… and I’m pretty well back to normal.

Went to war with Yellowjackets this week.  Last week, I was stung while putting the cover back on the BBQ.  This week I found a small nest on the underside of the BBQ.  Sprayed it… and I figured it was all done with. 

The next day I found another small nest.  This time in my backdoor light structure.  I thought these things were territorial yet, in two days, I found two nests within five feet of each other.  More spraying took care of this one.  And I took the hose to it too, to get rid of the bits of nest left behind.

The following day, I notice yellowjackets going in and out from part of the siding of the house.  More spraying (three times in three days within a 10 foot space). 

I think it may be done (knock on wood).  Since then I’ve seen a few yellowjackets fly through the yard.  But haven’t seen any perch anywhere around the house. 

I also have had a small battle with backyard ants.  A while ago, I noticed a little squad of them around my patio stones.  But I thought “if they’re going to stay around there, I’ll leave them in peace”.  But now I’ve noticed that they’ve pretty well laid claim to my entire back patio.  Scurrying about looking for food.  So I took out the spray bottle and had a go.  I may have gotten some of them… but that is a war that surely is not won.

I booked a flight home.  The annual, September trip is a go.  I won’t be there overly long but it’ll be a solid week.  Not sure if Fogo Island will be included or if I’ll just stay around town.  I had been back and forth about going this year.  Wondering if I’d be better staying in Ottawa and having more available vacation time to help mom and dad with the condo in the fall.  But, in the end, the deciding factor was the knowledge that if I didn’t go in September, I likely wouldn’t go until next summer.  That would have meant being away from Newfoundland for a year and a half.  When, in the past, I’ve been going home about three times a year, the idea of going once in eighteen months just didn’t seem right.

Summer Dreams

I used to dream of summers.

Being woken by the morning brightness.

No other season could match

The summer glow

Against my bedroom wall.

Summer lasted forever then.

With school’s end

It brought a year of adventures

Sports, sleepovers, backyard play and family trips

All packed into months of golden green warmth.

Years later, summertime work has never seemed right.

What was spaced over months back then

Is now crammed into a few weeks.

Strict bedtimes and alarm clocks

Shedding the magic of summer youth.

In fact now I prefer the autumn.

With comfy fleeces to keep us warm,

Backyard wasp battles over and won.

And the postcard beauty of changing leaves

Making the forests a quilt of colour.

But nothing replaces those summer memories

Which come trickling back

In those quiet moments of newly woke mornings

Bringing a warm, childhood glow

To my adult home

So many years away.