Golly Gee, today was so much fun

Not! The roofers were here from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Among other things I am having a lesson in the lives of skilled and unskilled laborers and gaining a great deal of admiration for these men—that is not gender bias. There has not been a woman among them. Pouring concrete and tearing off an old roof, putting on a new are men’s work requiring more strength and stamina than all but the most fit of women have.

Lewis warned me to leave for the day, but there was no place to go. And by 7:30, they had me blocked in with junk from the old roofs—that’s right, plural. There were four old roofs up there, one more than is legal today. It was really noisy most of the day, like they were using sledgehammers. Then there would be a deceptive period of quiet. I got my afternoon nap during one of those periods. Then in late afternoon the pounding began again—they were putting down new decking.

I didn’t have much interaction with the workmen, but the supervisor was friendly, polite, and meticulous. In the late afternoon, he used a magnetic sweeper and then laboriously picked up nails by hand. It took him a long time. But they left the work place neat and safe, which I needed for the dogs.

I think tomorrow they will finish in half a day, but other than the noise, it was no problem having them here.

The fact that no women do this kind of work brings up another gender issue—Hillary’s health. My take on it is that she has walking pneumonia and soldiered on with her incredibly difficult schedule. Her campaign people have described it as a small setback. Trump’s people have tried to put her on her deathbed and argue that it shows that a woman doesn’t have the strength to be president. I get so angry at the misrepresentations, lies and mud slung at HRC that I see purple and red.

Once again, we are faced with that 25-year Republican-fed smear campaign. I am absolutely appalled at the number of people who have drunk that Kool-Aid. It worries me for our country that so many are so gullible as to believe the conservative lies and distortions and to embrace an egotistical maniac like Donald Trump.

On the other hand, I’m a bit out of sorts with the Democrats today. Last week, they were talking about a record-breaking landslide. Today I got an email from one progressive organization saying, “We are going to lose.” Not because of Hillary’s health but because Paul Ryan is putting $30 billion into retaining the House. Where does he get that kind of money? Who can verify the amount? I am disgusted by the whole business—but not enough to vote for Gary Johnson.

A libertarian vote is a wasted vote, and HRC is clearly the best qualified candidate in a long time. I will be so glad when this is over, and I hope Trump keeps his promise to disappear. I notice that lately he hasn’t forecast blood in the streets if he loses.