Most times I sit down to write a diary, I have at least a basic idea of what I want to write. It’s been a long time since the Muse decided to take a vacation (or perhaps a strike) and left me high and dry for a diary topic. Of course, it could be because in this week before we leave for Netroots Nation, Casa Brillig has approximately eleventy seven tasks that Must Be Done. So grab a cold beverage because summer finally seems to have arrived around these parts, and join me in a scattershot look at what’s rattling around in my brain and then share what’s in yours, after you read across the reminder of who we are here at Top Comments and how you (yes, YOU!) can help make this community vibrant!
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First and foremost, sometime between 8am — noon tomorrow, a technician from the company who made our windows will show up and hopefully fix them. This doesn’t seem like a Big Deal, except I’ve been trying to get COMPANY NAME REDACTED to show up and honor their lifetime warranty for off and on two years now. I tried calling, emailing, calling some more, and then when I discovered where their local office was, showing up and sitting in their waiting room until someone finally dealt with me. I just got the autotext message confirming their visit so I have every hope they’ll show up. To be fair, the windows were installed in the late 80s and we really don’t mind if repairs cost something; it will be less than replacing fifteen windows. An energy assessment company that examined them said they’re still in decent shape (except for the broken springs) and replacing them would be massive overkill. All I really want is for them to be fixed enough to get us to the visible-in-the-not-so-distant-horizon Empty Nest phase where we might consider downsizing. I’d appreciate all the #thoughtsandprayers you can muster, both that the technician arrives and that I can rouse both offspring potentially as early as 8am. I’m not sure which requires more luck :).
To accompany the home maintenance, three of the four Casa members are dealing with health maintenance issues. We sport a combination of autoimmune and metabolic health conditions along with some physical remnants of long-ago health issues. Nothing life-threatening, just the kind of medical visits that will ::cue trumpet fanfare:: FINALLY get us past our deductible, and almost to out-of-pocket nirvana. Every visit reminds us of how much work there is to go to reform health care so that it’s actually CARE.
I’ve been volunteering as many hours as I can as a call time manager for one of our mayoral candidates. If elected (and she really should be given her experience and ability, IMNSHO!) she would be the first mayor to represent the increasing diversity of my city. I am loving being more involved inside a campaign, and for the first time I will be trying at NN19 to attend all those trainings I skip every year because I’m “just” a citizen activist.
And there’s NN prep itself. K2 has opted to spend a week with his grandparents and cousins in NH swimming, biking and hanging out rather than attend panels and spend 12 hours total in the car with us on the drive to/from Philly. I suppose as a newly minted (as of yesterday!) 14yo, a week NOT with your parents, sibling and sibling’s partner along with a couple hundred of their friends makes sense :). We need to retrieve K1’s partner from the airport, get K2 packed and up to NH on Saturday, get all of US packed for a week in Philly, and get things ready at home for our friends who are coming to feed, walk and play with our dogs to avoid having to board them. Given our one dog is dealing with a terminal sarcoma, we don’t want her to have to be away from home at all. It’s hard enough us being away from HER :(.
BUT… on Thursday, we’re headed to a party! Our friends live one block from the parade route of what claims to be the largest July 4th parade in MA and the second largest in New England. We’ll eat, go watch the parade, come back and hang out and eat more, then watch fireworks from the front lawn. It’s a quintessentially traditional day and given the expected guest list, no one will be pining for the military spectacle in Washington.
As I think about music appropriate for the season, I find one song speaks loudest: This Land Is Your Land, by the great Woody Guthrie. Not just the first few verses, but ALL the verses (the lyrics are in the wikipedia article in the link embedded in the song title). Like how Pete Seeger sang it at President Obama’s pre-Inaugural concert:
If you’re interested, here are a couple of great articles on Guthrie and this song in particular:
3/14/19 NPR All Things Considered
2/27/19 Rolling Stone
So what’s rolling around in your head as we each wind down in one the many places we call home in this land of ours? Please share in the comments, after first taking a look at Top Comments and Top Pictures. Thanks to BeninSC, one of the finest people I know to roam and ramble with, for collaborating with me tonight! Note: Comment Search seems to be broken at the moment, and that means we can’t bring you Top Mojo until it’s fixed.
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Note: Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
Sorry all, no submissions tonight, and comment search is down, so it isn’t possible to search for highlighted comments. No idea how long this will last, but until it is fixed, comment nominations are even more appreciated than before! Pretty please?!
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, July 1st, 2019, is usually posted here, with first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo. Tonight, however, dammit, the feature is MIA because most Daily Kos search capability is hosed. There is a Help Desk thread about it. So far, at least, no admin reply. Stay tunes.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for July 2, 2019! Thanks so much, jotter! (How tf do you do that, jotter?!