National news--and local news

It strikes me that when you’re housebound, as I am, the news takes on new importance in your life. So today I realized that in the hubbub over the SCOTUS decision about Texas abortion clinics, not much attention was paid to another ruling out of the same court. SCOTUS ruled that someone convicted of domestic abuse loses their license to carry firearms—forever. Guess who argued vehemently against that decision—Justice Clarence Thomas. I do hope, as predicted, that he resigns shortly. Meanwhile, the decision is a significant one, not to be overshadowed by the abortion clinic decision.

The storm of last night made local news bigtime. I was so wrong when I said no wind—in other parts of the city trees are down everywhere. And some parts of the city had four inches in two hours—streets were flooded up to car windows, and cars were abandoned in deep water. I saw a van standing in water—if I read the signage correctly it belonged to the man who cleans my Oriental rugs. I knew it was an impressive storm but I just didn’t know how impressive.

And we have news right here at home. Jacob went to my brother’s ranch today to spend the day with cousin Emory, who is a year younger—the two of them get along great, and he protects her and leads her into adventures she would not do by herself. They were both so antsy this morning, ready to go, that it was almost funny. Jacob didn’t have many steps on his Fitbit, and I told him he should run around the block. He said, with exaggerated patience, “Juju, I’m going to spend the whole day at the ranch.” He needed that unstructured kid time.

Later he called his mom to say, “I’m calling you because I almost died today.” The two of them had seen a copperhead. I have no idea how close a call this was, but I know my brother gave them a long talk about snakes. They had a large harmless black snake in the garage the other day—I think even that would panic me.

And we had news at home. Jacob announced that my cottage is not anywhere near square and the French doors are not fitting correctly. Jordan confirmed that they were having trouble with the doors, but she took this picture from the inside—that room is going to be so bright and sunny. No, the wall doesn't really curve--this was taken on a panoramic setting.

With Jacob gone, Christian and Jordan teamed to fix supper—pork tenderloin with a super sauce of beef broth, sour cream, mustard and lemon, salad, corn on the cob, and a dab of mashed potatoes (we didn’t have that many potatoes). Really good—a keeper recipe. You brown the tenderloins, then slices them and brown the slices, and then make the sauce.  

So now it’s nearly nine, and I’m tired. ‘Night, everyone.