Good evening. ☕️☀️
*Please forgive the grammatical errors.
This is my third winter season following these Big Bear Lake bald eagles (momma) Jackie and (papa) Shadow. In all the madness going on in our country, my heart mends with these glorious birds.
They give me hope. 🪺
AND THEN
Cruelty of all cruelties.
Ravens attacked the nest eating the eggs. One minute there's eggs. The next minute they're gone.
Momma Jackie mourns by keeping her nest warm, keeping her phantom eggs warm until she comes to term with the cruel fact her eggs are gone.
Last night was the second night she spent on her empty nest. I mourn with this dear eagle. When she stands on the edge of the nest searching for her eggs, only a person with no heart can bear it. Its so sad.
The experts say the season isn't over. Momma Jackie might still lay another clutch. 🤞🏼
And this dude.
He's all over my late night doom scrolls since Dougie day 1.
You can do it little bro! I have faith in you! 👊🏼
THE FOLLOWING is what happens when your first flight is eight hours late. I was in Wisconson going to Los Angeles. Every plane took off that day out of the airport no problem - every plane but ours.
AND SO IT BEGAN:
Today I learned my coffee mug weighs 1 pound which miiiight explain why I don't understand decaf. I'm on the dark roasted junk heading west to LAX from Wisconsin! My check in luggage was two pounds over. Crap. "Just take out one item. That's fine." They said. I took out my coffee mug. 1 pound. I grimmaced. They gave me thumbs up anyway. Mighty cool of them. The overweight fee is $100 - for 1 pound over.
My flight was supposed to have wheels up at 8:20am. It's now 12:44pm. Our flight was re-delayed five times. I was supposed to land at LAX around 1pm. Now I won't land until 7:15pm. An hour to get my luggage and Uber and then maybe dinner by 8:30pm if I'm lucky. I was going to take the flyaway to union station but forget it. I'll pay $100 and go straight to my rental.
2:35pm. My flight has been stranded at this airport for 6 hours. SIX HOURS. My flight is the only flight lingearing in the airport. Every other plane has taken off.
3:14pm: We were just informed its going to be another hour. Another hour. Another hour. I can't catch a connector flight in Denver until 8:50pm. Landing in LAX at 10:30pm. I was supposed to land at 1pm.
4:48pm. Finally, wheels up. Got to Denver at 7pm. I wasn't scheduled to leave Denver until 8:45pm. I got some food and coffee. Twenty minutes later I received an email saying they were going to start boarding at 7:50pm and that they changed the boarding gate to one on the other side of the airport (sigh). When I finally got to the gate they were boarding my group number.
I finally landed at LAX at 10:07pm. I was supposed to have landed at 1pm!
The airline crew got the pilot, a handsome all American looking guy, blonde hair, blue eyes, 30-something, tall, lean, wearing his pilot's hat even, to make the rounds and flirt with all the middle aged women sitting around the gate. I heard middle aged woman after middle aged woman giggle and blush at this man as he apologized for the flight being delayed EIGHT freaking HOURS. "Oh its ok. We don't mind." Each one said. Speak for yourself lady! I mind! I mind a great deal. This airlines delayed me EIGHT freaking HOURS. I had stuff I had to do today! I don't care how good looking the pilot is, none of that matters unless he has a time machine in his pocket. I can always tell women who never got good looking men when they were younger. They act like stupid morons at 45 years of age if a hot guy just smiles at them. Did this hot pilot get me to LAX at 1pm like I paid for? No. Is he going to reimburse me $580 for my flight? No. Then I couldn't care less how hot he is. My day was ruined. EIGHT HOURS and they couldn't send another plane?
Ice on the wings causing maintenance problems they said. Welp. Maybe its this airplane's first day on the job. Tiktok 😒
The 18 year old ticket girl is copping attitude with me hard because I had to change my connection flight SIX TIMES. Look B, its your airline F'ing up my day! Check yourself! I'm 57 years old but I'm also two years post menopause and Korean. I'll snap you like a twig over a cookie I won't eat. Squid Game!
So irritated. 8 hours at this airport.
And because I didnt land in LAX until after 10pm I had to book a hotel for the night because my rental had a strict 10pm cut off time to check in. By the time I got my suitcase and was back on ground floor, it was past 10:30pm. If you know LAX, to catch an Uber is a good lengthy walk to the ride share stop as you drag your suitcase with you. But as luck would have it right outside the airport doors was the Flyaway which cut my Uber ride down by $50. I took the flyaway to union station and got an Uber from there.
And the BEST PART about this awful flight experience is when the airline sent me an email with an apology and a link to some receive some kind of compensation for the major delay - I'm thinking air miles. Sooooo what happened when I filled out the form you ask. Welp.
(SIGH)
Go to the prairie, Lisa. Go to the prairie in your mind. Ohmmm.
Ah the Midwest prairie. My childhood home sweet home. Thankfully not every inch of land in this country has been butchered for real estate. Not yet. I miss this part of my childhood so much. Sadly, my own home town no longer looks like this. It's overpopulated now. Land all tore up for real estate. Houses on top of houses on top of mini malls and gas stations.
On the road, just after shooting these images, we saw a family of deer. I saw deer only once last year. Back in the day I saw them all the time everywhere. I'm blessed if I see deer once a year now.
Luckily I know where barely touched prairie land remains. This is where I go to recharge. This is home. When all is said and done, ten years from now, this is where I'll go like that adorable lone penguin who ran to the mountain instead of his colony's feeding grounds. He died there at that mountain but in his mind that's where he had to go. Poetic really.
If I live another ten years this is my mountain. I hope it will still be there and not turned into condos and mini malls. My childhood home, full circle. Are we so dissimilar to God's other creatures who just want to go home at the end of life?
Remember in my last blog when I wrote you're protesting at your own risk. Same. You're protesting at your own risk. You hear what team MAGA are saying about this latest protest killing. They accept no accountability. Not their fault is what they're saying. There's no honor dying in a protest. I need you guys re-watch Star Wars.
Are these protests happening organically within Minneapolis, no not entirely, c'mon, you know. All those folks are not from Minneapolis, or even Minnesota, I assure you. Folks are not driving from Coon Rapids in -30⁰ windchill to face ICE agents and protest. Not happening. Maybe 3M, a force in the Midwest democratic party, has its people march around for two hours on the cusp of Woodbury and Maplewood, but ain't no one from Bemidji driving to Minneapolis to protest. A good number of those people are from elsewhere.
When something isn't working you have to try something else. Trump would love nothing more than to have YOU protesters start a civil war. He'll blame it on you. Has any one Hollywood actor who spoke out against ICE in Minneapolis protested with you? Of course not, and do you know why, because they don't want to get shot, and it's F'ing cold out. No smart actor wants to alienate themselves politically. They need MAGA to watch their movies too.
Shutting down your Minneapolis businesses and closing your doors doesn't hurt Trump, or ICE, or homeland security, just you. AND they're all getting paid to do what I guess is their jobs, dig. No one is paying you to protest, freeze, and potentially get shot and killed. Protesters need to go inside, thaw out, drink some hot cocoa and strategize a different plan. This one isn't working. You don't have any political power backing up your protests. Minneapolis has a governor and mayor. I have no idea what a mayor's job is truth be told, but y'all voted for him to do something - so make him do something. Protesters can still protest and be the distraction like, "Yoo-hoo look over here!" While a power move is happening over, you know, there. And then you execute your plans for (here) and (there) simultaneously like Clone Protocol 66 - but for the good guys. If you're going to be a rebellion, be a smart, well thought out, rebellion. Now go watch Star Wars and learn from Han.
Protesting just to protest is like every other mass protest just to protest. You guys can march around in the freezing cold all you want but then what? What's your plan? Are you prepared to have a civil war? No? Then you better think of something else. Three more years. If I were Trump, thank goodness I'm not, but if I were, I would just let you guys protest and let my guys have carte blanche like they already do to do whatever they want. ICE are paid to do what they're doing and they have the president of the United States backing them up. What is YOUR plan? Has anyone even begun to file wrongful death lawsuits. You can file as many lawsuits as your lawyer friends or lawyer family members can file. File away. File lawsuits against everyone. Go crazy. Do it quickly while there's still a dissension in Count Orange Duku's force.
I just... I don't understand protesting only to protest. Use it as a distraction while you execute a better plan. To do that Y'ALL NEED A PLAN. Go make a plan.
Anyway.
I've been on hold for 15 minutes while an automated female voice assures me how important my call is by informing me every 2 minutes I'm the next caller on the line. Perfect.
(Sigh)
My number one face:face conversation pet-peeve is when people talk without saying anything. If their response to a question is "I don't know" it's irritating AF, yes, but at least it's a quick answer. I didn't have to listen to this person for thirty seconds before realizing there's no end to his senseless jabber, and oh by the way, he doesn't even know the answer to my question. Fantastic.
Having been in the work force since the age of fourteen (my first job was on a farm) I was taught young how to quickly speak to people in the work place. Farmers, contrary to nursery rhymes, are not patient people by nature. The farmer's dog might be named Bingo, but ain't no one got time to hear you sing about it.
The following is a real and recent exchange I had with a thirty-something year old employee at his work place:
I walked up to the counter:
ME: "Hey how are you."
HIM: "How do you mean?"
ME: "I'm sorry?"
HIM: "Do you mean physically or existentially?"
And that's why I don't talk to males in between ten and forty-five years of age anymore. There's only one response to, "Hey how are you" and that's "good" or "good thanks" if you're feeling social. This is how eighteen years of doom-scrolling fails society among the young. They don't know how to talk to people.
I asked a question regarding a business matter at this young man's work place and his response was:
"That's a little above my paygrade [laughs]."
Aaaand this is why the younger male generations are going to die alone in their 40's. No woman wants to be with a man who answers questions like, "That's above my paygrade."
Later that day I had lunch at Chipotle, and the young woman waiting on customers was just zipping along, God bless her. I could have legit hugged her.
Even with my stroked out brain, I need business conversations in the work place to make sense and at a reasonably speedy rate. While "I don't know" is an irritating AF answer at least it's a speedy answer.
All this happened in Wisconsin. Aaaand this also explains an old coworker of mine from Oshkosh. We worked together in Los Angeles circa 2000-2003 just before I got married. Mr. Oshkosh has a very slow frustrating way about him. I get slow. I lived on the prairie until I was nineteen years old. I understand slow HOWEVER by the time a person hits their twenties and enters the real world, regardless of how big or small that world is, they should have learned how to speak to people in the work place at a somewhat accurate and speedy tempo.
After my stroke, sometimes I don't remember the word I'm trying to say but I know the action of the word for some reason and then mime it out. Regardless, thirty seconds is a long time to get an answer especially when the answer is, "I don't know." Which is why I don't understand young women in this day and age wondering (anything) timely about a man because the answer is always going to be: If he hasn't done it yet he never will.
"Give him a chance."
No! Chances are for toddlers learning how to walk or do anything, not grown men.
Who raised the eighteen year olds of today? Younger Millennials? Some y'all really messed up. You didn't talk to your kids enough because they don't know how to talk to people, at all. This is my argument against home schooling. If kids aren't put in a social structure like school they have no clue how to talk to people when they grow up. And while Gen Z is the golden age of computers, the world hasn't yet gone 100% digital. They still need to know how to interact with people.
As a Gen X elder, born in 1969, I learned computers and everything new to date in this digital age starting in my 20's. Back when our brains were still soft and buoyant enough to grasp computers. Plus, I grew up socially. I read. The concept of society (especially in the work place) was never "above my paygrade". Maybe by the time Gen Beta grows up humans will have no use for each other at all but until then... Y'all need to read more or something.
According to daddy Google the requirements to graduate high school in Wisconsin goes as follows:
4 credits of English
3 of Math
3 of Social Studies
3 of Science
1.5 of Physical Education
0.5 of Health
0.5 of Financial Literacy
In other words, the requirements needed now to graduate high school are what my generation X required to graduate 7th grade and I'm from a hick town one state over.
Financial literacy. I would love to zoom a class. Of those seven classes listed, financial literacy is the only class a student might benefit from and it requires the least amount of credits.
Financial literacy > Physical education = Health
Isn't health and physical education the same cla... You know what, never mind.
Question for the school board of directors, how do any of those classes prepare students to enter the real world? Is this what y'all did for "no student left behind" you just dumbed down education?
Hey Gen X, remember our high school requirements to graduate: English literature, political science, calculous, chemistry, physics 101. My generation school board of educators were trying to make the next president, doctors, and NASA engineers. School is supposed to be hard. The ones who make it to graduation are the ones you invest in. That way we have less Trumps as presidents.
School board educators for the 2020-something graduates made a wave of social media content creators, which is fine, but then keep them out of the professional work force. Mr. "Let's try Cosco chicken vs Walmart chicken" doesn't need to be handling our credit cards. Once that extra charge shows up on your bill you might be stuck with it because a particular generation as a whole graduated high school with nothing more than a 7th grade education.
I much rather there be less options to chose from that operated at 100% than a wave of options that operated at 40%.
And look, I know I'm anal retentive about stuff but that's because my former years of education taught me how to number crunch and file paperwork. 2+2 must equal 4 at the start and end of the day or someone somewhere messed up and we need to fix it ASAP. That's how we were taught. Fix it ASAP. Not, "Like bro, I have no idea. It's above my paygrade." And again, I grew up in a hick town just one state over.
Side note: Whenever there was a work place discrepancy, back in the day, the previous shift hung around to make certain the discrepancy was solved or in the hands of the appropriate person to solve it. They didn't run in the back and hide which is very common among these younger generations. Trust me kid, I don't want to talk to your manager. I'm a Gen X'er, the least amount of people I have to talk to the better. So please learn something new and fix it yourself.
I used to question why we can't get brighter presidential candidates, it's all starting to make sense now.
The people in charge of making the state's power structure are failing the young people of the state when all it takes to graduate high school is this:
4 credits of English
3 of Math
3 of Social Studies
3 of Science
1.5 of Physical Education
0.5 of Health
0.5 of Financial Literacy
(sigh)
Japanese high school requirements to graduate:
Japanese Language: Modern Japanese, classics, and, in some cases, Chinese classics.
Mathematics: Comprehensive math studies.
Social Studies: Divided into geography, history, and civics (including
politics/economics/ethics).
Science: Often specialized, covering subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, or earth science.
Foreign Language: Primarily English.
Health and Physical Education: Includes both physical activity and health studies.
Arts: Music, fine arts, crafts, or calligraphy.
Home Economics: Covering basic home management and food design.
Information/Informatics: Basic IT and computer knowledge.
Wow.
Dear American school boards, it all makes sense now doesn't it.
Home economics, Japan still teaches it. That's how important it is. Why it was removed from American high schools I'm sure I will never know. Basic personal management and food design. You think that might be important, yes?
Japanese high school students are taught English and in some cases also Chinese. Can you see American high school kids learning both Japanese and Chinese in addition to English in order to graduate high school. I mean there are some kids who would thrive out of genuine interest to learn three languages but can you imagine the size of any graduating class (of any year) if learning the Japanese language was a prerequisite to graduate. Especially since it takes four (my goodness!) credits of their own language to graduate 12TH GRADE.
Are high school credits merited the same in Sweden as they are in America, or is this one of those kilometers vs miles kind of thing. According to daddy Google, in Wisconsin all that is needed is 25.5 credits maximum to graduate. Sweden requires 2,250 credits at 90% minimum to receive just a passing diploma. Now again, this could be a miles vs kilometers thing but according to daddy Google, 1 kilometer = 0.62 miles.
And look, it's no fault of the kids. This is one of those administrative things, cutting corners for the "no kids left behind" program and then chalking it up as a success. Yay America... I guess.
I'm no academic whiz by any stretch of the imagination but, and this is just my opinion as an old gal who has been around the block "a few times", it seems to me America is no longer in a position to power struggle anyone. The one thing we had that other countries didn't was the American dream, freedom to succeed in whatever legal profession once you landed on our shores. The American dream was for anyone and everyone who managed to immigrate here. Capitalism! Hooray! UNTIL 2024, that is.
This WH administration doesn't comprehend infrastructure.
According to daddy Google:
"As of early 2026, the U.S. national debt has surpassed $38 trillion, driven by years of federal budget deficits where spending exceeds revenue."
FYI boys and girls, that last sentence was the only thing that separated democrats from the republicans back in my day. Which then brings me to this, according to daddy Google:
"Immigration is a critical driver of the modern U.S. economy, with foreign-born individuals comprising 18.6% of the labor force and contributing over $2 trillion in annual economic activity. Immigrants, including undocumented, paid roughly $652 billion in taxes in 2023 and are essential for filling labor shortages in key sectors like agriculture (40% of workers), construction (28%), and healthcare (16% of nurses)."
And Trump wants to do whatnow? Where does he think 652 billion dollars is going to come from once he's deported everyone darker than Blanched Almond?
The money certainly isn't coming from tourism. Not anymore. Everyone hates us now. Who the heck wants to come here? It's certainly not going to come from taxing the uber wealthy. He's made certain of that. So... where does Trump think the money is going to come from?
Even the Catholic church is running out of money. I'm not talking about lawsuits. I'm talking about the funds put into mission work (that I do) to feed, house, educate, and get medical treatment for the poor and unhoused including our American veterans. That money was raised through charity. You know who the biggest doners are/were, all the dark ethnicities Trump is trying to deport. Maybe not all of the dark ethnicities but they are the biggest circle on this Venn diagram.
Atheists can dog Christianity all they want but guess who's funding mission programs to help the hungry, homeless, battered womens shelters, and the sick. Once Trump removes federal funding for these programs the money will need to come from both church and state. I pray God help you if you live in a red state. No red state governor is going to help you - or red state church for that matter. They're mostly evangelicals.
Mission work is not in evangelical theology.
"The sick and poor is God's Will" that's their theology.
When Osteen's Lakewood church closed its doors during Hurricane Harvey it was because their theology is deeply rooted in God's Will be done. If anyone dies its God's Will. Of course their press agent said they closed their doors because the church was under construction which could have also been true. Who knows. Osteen is an amazing preacher but he's also very greedy but in evangelical theology that's God's Will.
Understand, those people who were photographed touching a sitting Trump with bowed heads, those people are mainline wealthy evangelicals. People hold the wealth among evangelicals unlike Catholics where the clergy holds the wealth. I'm not sure who holds the wealth among Mormons but they're probably the second wealthiest church behind the Catholic church.
ANYWAY
Trump's reign is making interesting bed fellows for sure between church and state. We all have to survive, right? For women my age 55+ we go where we're wanted which is usually in servitude of something like the church. I'm happy to help. Make no mistake about that. I meditate about my future all the time.
(I also believe in God's Will just not the same way as evangelicals.)
Understand, evangelicals are neither a direct church of Martin Luther's protestant reformation though they call themselves protestants nor are they Catholics. They are "Christian fundamentalists" who preach from the Bible but not in it's entirety. Like the Catholics, evangelicals preach what serves them. Many of them are not even baptized. Shocking I know. Their theology is deeply rooted in "God wills it" for the conservative party. "I'm wealthy, God wills it. You're poor, God wills it. I'm healthy, God wills it. You're sick and dying because you're poor, God wills it." That's their theology. Sorry Jewish people, wealthy evangelicals claim they are the chosen ones.
The only protestants that follows Martin Luther's reformation are Lutherans. We are the original protestants. In my opinion the only ones. Our theology is deeply rooted in following the footsteps of Christ and casting aside material goods - Heaven cannot be purchased. And while I am happy to work for, and volunteer for, Catholic missions, it is understood between them and myself that I do not interfere with their teachings of Catholicism no matter how little they actually follow in the footsteps of Christ. AND SO...
At least Mormons and Sciontologists call themselves by what they believe in. All these branches of so called protestants do not follow Martin Luther's refermation. If they did they would be Lutherans and not whatever an episcapalian is.
Martin Luther is the reason why there is protestantism, not King Henry VIII. King Henry seperated from Rome and the Pope in 1534 over a woman not his wife which by the way is not very Christian. Martin Luther's refermation occurred in 1517. Contrary to popular belief King Henry VIII did not birth protestantism, Martin Luther did.
States are going to have to work with Catholic church once Trump cuts blue states from receiving any Federal money.
If Liberals really want to know the gosh darn truth, all this screaming about ICE, and Ericka Kirk, and storming churches, and keeping hotels awake even the patrons who are not ICE agents and how y'all are victims... I'm tired of it. You being the annoying agitators towards innocent people is WORSE than when MAGA does it because we expect them to do it. You guys are supposed to be the smart one. So be smart or you are no better than MAGA.
Keeping hotel guests awake all night because a few ICE gents might be staying there is really messed up. Storming churches is really messed up.
As an independent voter I'm already so very tired of you. Do better. Be smarter.
FYI, if someone kicked your back tail light out (in ANY situation) in a Trader Joe's parking lot, you'd want to shoot them too. Just saying. Actions have consequences.
Be careful Liberals. Be very careful.
For every man shall bear his own burden.
Galatians 6:5
That's right, mom, actions have consequences. Okay bye!
