JOURNAL: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

I’m sure you know the old cliché, “The dog that caught the car.” If not, it’s when a person attains an ambitious goal and has no idea what to do next. Watching the election results this evening, I thought Dobbs was just one example of the car: the recent Speaker’s election and the preceding three weeks with a stalled House being another. An argument could be made that the response to COVID-19 is another car, and you might make the argument that it’s not a bunch of cars, rather everything since January 2017 is one large bus.

You would think that after years in the minority, and in the case of Dobbs, 50 years of planning for the day Roe would be overturned, there would have been a plan. Not so much, which leads us to a hard truth: Today’s Republican Party has no interest in plans, policy, or even the bare minimum of governing. This new group is only there for the clicks.

After years of getting my hopes up at other companies, I stopped worrying about merit increases a long time ago. If the company chose to give me anything for my work, I considered it gravy. I’ve been a salaried employee for a little less than ten years between two places, and the increases are usually better than anything I ever received as an hourly employee. It’s those 25 cent raises that beat the hope out of me, so I don’t worry about it. So it was nice to have received a note from on high telling me that I received something more appropriate for my work over the year. I still come from the school of not disclosing what I make to anyone, other than to say that I now make more than I’ve made anywhere else. As long as the bills are paid and I can still buy eggs, I’m solid.

Friday off for the holiday, and we’re thinking about heading west to the Blue Ridge to see if we can squeeze the last bit of fall color out of the trees. Last year we went to High Bridge State Park, and in a strange twist, I had no trouble with the heights but Kim had terrible vertigo. Additionally, we had a storm come through that week, and it wiped out most of the leafs on the way through. Not a total bust, but close. Hoping for some better luck this year. Trust I’ll put some photos up here if we get lucky.

Shutter Saturday: Hatteras Surfers

Right across the parking lot from the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is a BEAUTIFUL beach, that has had less than ten people on it every Saturday Morning I’ve been there.

One surfer totally made me as I was taking photos. I wanted to call him Ken, but he had a surfboard, his job is more than beach.

However, I thought you might like to see these since this is one part of my trip to OBX that didn’t flame out.

Photo: Pungo Ferry Bridge at Sunset

Kim and I take the long drive down to Knotts Island every so often to get out of the house, as one does when you work from home. Beautiful Sunset yesterday, I decided to take a slight detour to the Pungo Ferry Boat Landing and see if there was anything worth capturing.

Turns out there was.

Photo: An Unexpected Dragonfly

When editing photos of the thunderclouds over the weekend, I took this photo as a companion to the VB Convention Center photo from June. The curves complement each other. What I hadn’t expected is my little winged friend in the photo. A happy accident, which I’m happy to share with you. Taken with iPhone 12, edited in Lightroom.