I'm back

Not sure why it's been so hard for me to keep up this diary. Of course I have my other two blogs and my gainful employment consists largely of writing, so maybe I just haven't had enough energy to channel into it. But I have decided that the discipline will be good for me.

So here's how things are here. It's been a mild autumn so far. That was supposed to change today with some nasty cold rain and wet snow, but it hasn't happened. It's actually been a very fine fall day, partly sunny, maybe a bit chilly but pretty normal for the time of year. We'll see if they're still wrong later in the day. Anyway, believe it or not, my parsley is still just fine and I'm still cutting fresh parsley for my dinners. Maybe today is the last chance, so I think I'll make some stuffed shells and use up what I can. There's severe drought to the north and west of us, but actually right here we've had a rain deficit over the year but nothing you would notice. The corn crop, which is not irrigated, was excellent.

Now, there are bigger things going on in the world right now than the weather in Windham County. We're all trying to figure out what just happened and what will happen in the coming years. The feeling that we are about to lose a century of progress hangs over many of us. I don't think that will happen. It's one thing to whip up a frenzy at neo-fascist rallies with threats, insults and lies; it's quite another thing to govern. What little in the way of actual policy content there was in the Trump campaign was ridiculous. No, there will not be a twenty foot wall the length of the Mexican border. No, the coal mining jobs will not come back to Appalachia and the factories won't come back to Youngstown. He won't lock Hillary up (not that I understand why his fans wanted that) and as for repealing Obamacare, the Republicans in congress are suddenly realizing that actually being able to do it puts them in a very awkward position. Paul Ryan wants to phase out Medicare but the only constituency for that is a few extremist ideologues and rich people who don't want to pay taxes.

What the Trump presidency will be is a grift. He'll use it to steal everything he can as quickly as he can, and his justice department will step aside. Sooner or later the people will have to notice that whatever he meant by making America great again isn't happening, they're still living on hay, and he's sucking up the gravy. I look forward to that day.