Every morning, shortly after waking up, I have to answer the question that determines the direction of the day: How much am I going to care? I often go to bed thinking that I care a great deal, full of ideas for how I might comment on the day’s activities. Yet, by the time I sit down at the desk the next morning and am ready to write, my opinions are likely to be quite different. I’m struggling this morning. There are a number of things that I could talk about, probably should mention, and opine upon. Motivation escapes me. I want waffles. I want to go back to bed.
Tipper had a great time yesterday at the furry meet-up at Riverside Park. She brought home the shell of a big-assed furry head that goes down over her shoulders! She also brought home all the leftover soda. What is the sweetest thing, though, is that she won a raffle for a hat with mushrooms painted on the crown and ivy on the brim. In her opinion, it’s a “cowboy” hat and she couldn’t wait to give it to me when she got home. It’s actually a wide-brimmed fedora, and I’m not sure where or when I will ever wear it, but it’s a gift of love that I’ll cherish.
G starts the trek back home from Florida today. We won’t see him until after school tomorrow, though. They’ll get in late enough that it makes more sense for him to go to school with his friend. I’m hoping that he’s not too tired to answer all the questions that I’ve been saving up for him. Kat and I have missed having him around. The cats have missed having him to snuggle. It will be good for him to be home.
Kat felt some better yesterday, enough that I didn’t need to go with her to the salon. She’s still struggling, though, and this constant pattern of getting over one illness only to catch another is wearing heavily on her. There are too many days where it’s impossible for her to keep down anything solid. I wish I could give her a giant box of good health, but that’s not in my bag of tricks.
I’m looking at the weather maps this morning and we’ve got this stupid high-pressure system sitting over the entire Ohio Valley that’s keeping our days warm and sunny, but also very, very dry. Be careful with your autumn bonfires, please. There might be the slightest chance of scattered showers on Friday, and temperatures will cool down starting Tuesday, but I don’t see anything that’s going to give us the drought relief we need. Hurricane Oscar became a reality yesterday, but it’s too early to tell how it’s going to impact us, if at all. At the moment, it’s giving Cuba hell, which they didn’t need after their power grid failed this week.
College football was interesting in places, and disappointing in Oklahoma. Both the Sooners and the Cowboys lost. At least the Oklahoma State game was close, but OU is looking as though they forgot how to play the game. WTF happened? They both started the season strong, but there’s no wind in their sails now.
Likewise, Purdue lost to number two-ranked Oregon Friday night, 35-0. I’m not sure that many people in Indiana care anymore, though, because IU absolutely slaughtered Nebraska yesterday afternoon, 56-7. This whole going undefeated thing is new for Indiana, and it’s giving some rise to questioning why the team is still ranked so low. They’re not only winning, but they’re doing so by large margins against teams that have previously taken them to the woodshed. I think it’s about time they started getting some credit.
Most of the other top 25 teams handled their games well enough, but where there were exceptions there were some amazing games. Number 6-ranked Miami held on to beat Louisville, 52-45, but they had to work hard to get there. The unranked Louisville team was out for blood from the first kickoff and were it not for a litany of mistakes they might have won.
Both Army and Navy are still undefeated which is as remarkable as IU’s record. One has to go wayyyyyyyy back in the records to find the last time this happened. Next month’s Army/Navy game is going to be hot!
The game everyone is talking about this morning is number 5-ranked Georgia knocking off #1 Texas, 30-15, and let me tell you, it was never that close. After a scoreless first quarter, Georgia spent the second quarter intercepting balls and scoring touchdowns. It got so bad, that Texas pulled starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and replaced him with redshirt freshman Arch Manning. That helped, but it wasn’t enough to get them past a Georgia defense that owned the line of scrimmage for the entire game. UGA coach Kirby Smart felt that they were having to play against the officials the entire game, and to be fair, 23 penalties in the first half is a lot of yellow flags floating around. Then, there was a reversed call on an interception after Texas fans threw water bottles onto the field. Again, Smart was pissed. “Now, we’ve set a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes that you’ve got a chance to get your call reversed,” Smart said. “And that’s unfortunate because, to me, that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want, and that’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.” Be careful bringing up this game around the coffee pot this morning. There are still some hurt feelings out there.
The Holocaust’s grandchildren are speaking now. Generational trauma is the topic. The current war isn’t helping any.
Boeing workers to vote on new wage deal that could end strike. Boeing is making a slightly better wage deal, but don’t expect it to be enough.
Judges punishing Jan. 6 rioters say they fear more political violence as Election Day nears. This is insane behavior one normally expects from underdeveloped, undereducated countries. Can a complete collapse of our governmental system be that far behind?
Those are really serious topics, though, and do you want to be that serious today? I know I don’t. This recipe for pork chile verde looks interesting. I just don’t need the rice. And someone needs to come wash the dishes.
I am surrounded by orange cats. One behind me, one on the armrest, and one on the desk. I think they’re looking for a brain cell. There are none here.
And I’m not sharing my coffee.