Trump 's Very Strange World

The firing of FBI Director James B. Comey via President Trump's letter on May 9 is the latest craziness to come out of President Donald Trump’s administration in recent days. Does the President really believe we need a daily shock or surprise to get through each day, as he seems to?  

Or, is the FBI getting too close to uncovering collusion between Russian President Putin’s government and the Trump campaign team during the 2016 Presidential election? 

Never mind that in the firing letter, President Trump thanked Comey for telling him on three separate occasions he (President Trump) was not under investigation. What the devil does that have to do with “You’re fired?”

Does President Trump believe he is going to get an FBI Director who will do his bidding like the White House butler who brings him coke whoever he presses a red Coca Cola button on the Presidential desk?  Go back and read the fate of L. Patrick Gray who tried hard to please President Nixon, 

Another piece of weirdness the administration sent to congress would butcher the federal tax code to obscenely benefit the rich and cut the corporate rate from 35 to 15 percent. The Alternative Minimum Tax and the Estate Tax would also be scrapped. All of this will enrich the Trump family, if he is as rich as he claims to be. 

More importantly, it will stick working people in America with an additional $7 Trillion in national debt over the next ten years. 

Treasury Secretary Steven Munchin, a well-educated and successful businessman, stepped forward with a straight face, looked right into the cameras and said President Trump’s tax cutting proposal will promote extraordinary growth and “pay for itself.” This bit of pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking has never happened in the history of this country. It is a carryover from the days of Ronald Reagan. (Probably something that card reader in California told Nancy Reagan.)

Of course, by the time the national debt goes up another $7 Trillion, President Trump and the millionaires and billionaires in his administration will be long gone from office and probably sitting around in some country club smoking cigars and drinking 40-year old Scotch while enjoying their windfall gains.

Hooting and hollering galore broke out when House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans were keeping their promise when the administration on its second try successfully twisted the arms of enough Republican Congressmen and women to pass a measure to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Never mind it will likely cost 14 million Americans their health insurance and screw over those with cancer, physical and mental disabilities, or other pre-existing conditions. 

And that wall that is supposed to be built between Mexico and the United States, well forget it. The latest spending bill did not include any money for the wall. Add to this “minor detail,” Mexico says it will not pony up a dime and then there are pending lawsuits filed by Texans to protect private lands, disruption of wildlife issues which will probably also wind up in court, a 1970 treaty prohibiting blocking a river, erosion and drainage issues, etc. etc.ad Infinitum. 

My walk - in free verse

I went up Wax Myrtle Lane

At Cat Brier Drive I went right

An instant decision

Usually I go left.

A car came toward me

One step off the edge of the road

Onto the grass

Until it passed.

Then a waste haul truck

Came along

Again, I stood on the grass

Until it passed.

Two women did I encounter

Walking in the opposite direction

One talking on a cellphone

The other being ignored

We passed without exchanging greetings.

Onto Timber Lane

And through Stablegate community

A man and his dog

A plastic glove on hand

To clean up after the dog.

Rat-a-tat-tat, I heard

And, again, a second volley

I stopped and looked

But could not see the woodpecker.

The day was cool

The sky was clear

I turned left on Moss Creek drive

And left on Cat Brier

And right on Wax Myrtle Lane

I was home

My daily walk was over.

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42 Great Shots

Great pictures are a visual delight and these are in that category. I've included one of them below. They are from the 2013 National Geographic 25th annual Traveler Photo Contest,and appeared in The Atlantic, where Alan Taylor wrote "National Geographic was once more kind enough to allow me to share some of the early entries with you here, gathered from four categories: Travel Portraits, Outdoor Scenes, Sense of Place, and Spontaneous Moments. Photos and captions by the photographers. "
Scroll down in the story and Enjoy!

A group of 12-14 hyenas were chasing a herd of 7-8 elephants. The elephant herd included 2 adult females, a few teenagers, and a baby that was a few days old (belonging to one of the adult females). The hyenas were trying to get at the baby. In this picture, the mother is kicking at the hyenas. (© Jayesh Mehta/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest). 

 

(Complete blog here.) 

 

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Dining out and orchids

On Saturday evening, just before dusk, we stepped out to take a short walk around the neighborhood and observed a hawk in a tree eating on a smaller bird. 

Earlier in the week, I observed some horses in the Stable Gate section of Moss Creek out in the corral munching on the grass. It was almost impossible to get any horse to look up, so intent were they on eating. 

And we had a bonus from a neighbor who left some plants for us to water as she departed on a trip. We got to witness the blooming of a a couple of orchids.

Fewer pecans this season

I never learned the answer (if there is one) to the rhetorical question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" Not many heard a major limb snap off a pecan tree near the entrance to Moss Creek plantation at Hilton Head, SC, on June 4, during an electrical and rain storm which passed through the area, but certainly it must have sounded loud and clear.

A similar storm  has been a daily feature for a few days and the forecast is for more such storms for the balance of the week. This one of many pecan trees in the area but the first one to suffer such damage this season. The same general area also houses dozens if not hundreds of giant, sprawling oaks, some of which are at least 100 or more years old.

Being a relative newcomer to Moss Creek I do not know who harvests the pecans when they are ready but it is obvious there will be fewer this season than in the past.
(Complete blog here.)
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Trees

Over the weekend I was out with some friends on their boat and while looking at the shore and the far away horizon I got to wondering about the stand of trees in the distance. Tall, strong, almost regal. It was not anything unusual, similar sights are visible everywhere. Riding along an Interstate through the low country or in the mountains one sees the same. Off in the distance trees appear uniform in height like an army on parade. So even, so neat-looking. Why is it like this, I wondered? Do trees talk to each other and say “conform, stay in line?” Walk down a busy city street and look ahead as far as you can see and the eye will treat you to a smorgasbord of heights and shapes. Even if you look down a long, wide boulevard, such as in Paris, you will notice differences. There is always someone taller who breaks the continuity of the line. Not so with trees in the distance. Tree tops appear even, more disciplined and I wonder how this comes about. Trees compete for the sunlight to help them grow. It seems they willingly share and not one is hoggish. Is this why on the horizon the line of trees appears so even? Assuredly, I know when you get up close you will notice differences, but looking at the horizon all is orderly and unbroken.

These are just some recent random thoughts I have about trees. I have not given much thought to trees in years, living as I did in a metropolitan area with more asphalt and concrete than greenery. My new home (Moss Creek plantation, Hilton Head, SC) is surrounded by trees, grass and two golf courses. I had almost forgotten how pleasurable it is to look around and see giant oak trees with massive trunks and limbs testifying to decades, if not centuries, of growth. It is, all in all, a most pleasant experience.

You are what you believe

Believing...

Percentage of Canadians who believe in global warming: 98

Of Americans: 70

Of Republicans: 48

Percentage of Republicans who believe in demonic possession: 68 

(Source: "Harper's Index", January 2013.)

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Government workers

Many of the men and women who put Curiosity on Mars on Sunday are federal government workers who often are criticized. Hope some of the critics will pause to admire and praise this magnificent accomplishment. And to think most of the equipment and parts of Curiosity came from the lowest bidders...
Well done!

The beat goes on

Four years ago today I moved into an apartment at Franke at Seaside, Mt. Pleasant, SC. It was my first "PCS" (permanent change of station to those who never served in the military) in 44 years. My wife, Mary, preceded me to Franke by about seven months and lived in Assisted Living. The days went by faster than any other period I can recall. (It seems strange but the older we get the faster the days roll by.) Slowly but progressively I met my neighbors and made new friends from all parts of the country and all walks of life. The joy this brought was marred by the deterioration in Mary's health and her death in December 2010. Many in the Active Lifestyle Community have had similar down moments, but life goes on. For Mary and I the permanent physical separation came after 56 years of being together. During those years - in good times and bad - we shared a Kiplingesque expression and attitude that serves me well today: soldier on!

New friends (especially one very, very special friend) are a precious joy in my life. When I was a young boy, just entering my teens, living in Lowell, MA, I attended St. Patrick's Church. We had a change in pastor's in the mid forties. When the new priest gave his first sermon he dwelt on the theme and uttered the phrase, "my lot has been cast in friendly places." Since moving to Franke at Seaside, I often recalled that sermon and fully appreciate the heartfelt sentiment it expressed. And I am happy at this time in my life to say, "my lot has been cast in friendly places."

 

Looking at good and bad

Mirror Image...
An image which is like a reflection in a mirror...everything is the same, except reversed.
Snapped this interesting picture in Seasides Farms, Mt. Pleasant, SC while on an exercise walk. (Click pictures to enlarge.)


And then there was this:



It is heartwarming that some Seaside Farms residents celebrated the birth of our Declaration of Independence with fireworks, but then they spoiled it by not cleaning up their explosive residue. I found this ugly trash scattered on the road at the end of Canyon Oaks Drive, while walking early in the morning of July 7. Someone ought to clean that up, I said to myself, and then I remembered: I was someone. I went home, returned with the box and a plastic glove, and cleaned up after these thoughtless celebrants.

A morning walk on the beach

I was on the beach at "Isle of Palms SC" at 5:35 this morning. It was a solid black morning. The sky was devoid of any clouds and it seemed there were thousands of stars. The tide was low and I walked up the beach for 35 minutes before I met anyone. I kept the same distance between the incoming tide and my path to stay on a straight line. I encountered a woman and her dog. We chatted for a few minutes and she used the light on her cell phone to let me read the time on my watch. I then turned and headed back the way I came. When I reached the point where I had entered the beach I stopped and looked back to the East. The sun was not visible but its rays were lighting the horizon and I knew it would be soon be daylight.

Woody Woodpecker is alive and well

Yesterday while walking from the dining room to my apartment building I heard a woodpecker. I paused and look up in a tree but did not see him. I took a few steps and heard him again and I stopped and looked. I thought he wants me to see him. After a minute or so I spotted him about 30 feet up the side of a tree. He commenced his rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat pecking as I stood there watching and listening. Then he moved about 90 degrees to a new position on tree but hit a soft spot and though his beak was moving in and out, or up and down, there was no noise. He flew away and I walked on to my apartment.
(From my blog.

Garden, ducks and the worm

Giamumusso Yard, Franke @Seaside. (Click photos to enlarge)

Canadian geese visit Franke @Seaside.


The worm turns.

Ducks out of Water

The expression "ducks out of water" applied to these curious creatures as they explored Augsburg Drive in Franke at Seaside, Mt Pleasant SC. (Click on picture for enlarged view.)

Print stolen - reward offered

On Sunday, April 26, 2009, someone stole a signed print by Robert E. Kennedy of Hemingway's favorite hangout in Key West, Sloppy Joe's Bar. I obtained the print while visiting Key West in 1993 and later had it matted and framed. The print was hanging in the alcove at the front door to my apartment since February 2008, when I moved to Franke at Seaside. The theft has been reported to the Mt. Pleasant Police. The print is today valued at $300. A reward will be paid for information leading to the recovery of the framed print. (This is a copy of the stolen print.)

Up and at 'em early in the morn...

At 6:45 this morning I closed the door of my apartment and walked quietly down the corridor and descended the back stairs into the parking garage and out into the neighborhood of cottages and homes. Everywhere it was silent. There was no one out on the street. Newspapers had been thrown in front of many houses and still laid on lawns and sidewalks. In front of a friend's house I picked up the paper and tossed it to the front door and continued on my morning walk. When I crossed the property line between Franke at Seaside and Seaside Farms I met one woman walking and talking on a cellphone. She was dressed in nurse's whites and headed in the direction of the main road. Would she catch a bus? Is there even a bus on that road in the morning? Would she wait to be picked up by a car and driver and taken to work? Shortly after a car passed by with one person in it. Going to work? Seaside Farms is a residential community of private homes, small to medium lots and generally well kept lawns. Some automatic sprinklers were operating and I left the sidewalk temporarily for the road to escape the water. Like Franke at Seaside there was no activity to break the morning silence. Except for the major differences in prosperity the area resembled a community in East Germany that I drove through in 1989. No one on the streets. No sound from the homes. No evidence that anyone even lived there. Suddenly a small dog was at my heels and startled me. I stopped and faced him down as he circles my legs. A teenage boy came running after him with a leash in his hand and as he got close to me said, "Sorry." I continued on my silent walk until I encountered a lady walking two small dogs, one on a leash and one walking point unleashed. Both were friendly and well mannered. We exchanged "good morning" greetings - the lady and I, (not the dogs and me.) I completed my circle of the Seaside Farms community and re-entered Franke at Seaside, a retirement and continuing care community. I circled back by my friend's house where I hoped to scrounge a cup of coffee but the newspaper was still on the front steps and I concluded no one was up and about. I got a cup of coffee at the Franke Bistro and am back in my apartment from where I can see a couple of people walking over to get some breakfast and begin a new day. "Another day in which to excel," was how one friend put in last week. A phrase I had not heard since the Vietnam war era.

Light up the night

Letters to the Editor
The Post & Courier
134 Columbus St.
Charleston, SC 29403

Dear Sirs:

I live at Franke at Seaside, a retirement community off Rifle Range Road near the Isle of Palms connector. On many occasions I have driven down Rifle Range Road from Coleman Boulevard almost to the connector in almost complete darkness. This is not a safe practice, but it is a necessity at times.

I was not at the Mt. Pleasant Town Council committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 6, when a woman asked for lighting along Rifle Range Road. But in reading the story in the Jan. 7 Post and Courier, I am led to believe she and her request were treated with scorn. One would thing that what she has asked to be erected was a statue of Ted Kennedy in the city park being built at the foot of the Ravenel Bridge.

I recently made a special trip down Rifle Range Road from Coleman to the connector to see if there were sufficient poles. City administrator Mark Burdette was quoted as saying it would cost $117 per light if the poles were in place and $1,700 each if new poles were required.

There are poles aplenty to hang lights from. These carry power to all the homes on the road. Less than six of these have small lights attached, usually near a residence. Perhaps the occupants of those homes did a private deal with the power company.

Mount Pleasant ought to take a deep breath and listen to the woman who asked for the lights. There is no need for new poles. Lighting this road would promote safety, and perhaps discourage criminals, reduce automobile accidents, and break-ins of automobiles parked in yards. It would also put Mt. Pleasant in the lead to becoming a modern and model city.


Francis X. Archibald
Franke Drive
Mount Pleasant

(Published Tues. Jan. 20, 2009)

The Lady of the Lake - redux

Recently, on an early morning exercise walk in Hidden Lakes subdivision in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., I observed a lady pause in her walk to stand at the edge of the water and gaze through the mist at a gazebo in the lake and the many birds resting on the roof. This called to mind “The Lady of the Lake,” Sir Walter Scott’s 200 year old poem set in the Scottish Highlands which retold the 16th century legend of a family banished and restored.

Save the mice?

"Dear Editor:
"Are we on the verge of losing our collective minds in America? First it was save the whales and then the bobtails. Now someone has come up with a plastic water bottle gizmo that humanely catches and holds "the live mouse until you release it." (Home and Garden Section, pg 1D, July 13 Post & Courier).

"What do we do with this probably disease-carrying live mouse? Take it to a neighbor's yard or to the waterfront and put it on a container ship headed for the South China Sea or the Adriatic?

"And what does this mean to the role of cats in our lives?"

(My Ltr to the Editor, The Post & Courer, Charleston SC, published July 22, 2008)

ANWR = 4 cents a gallon?

Harper's Magazine has an impressive track record for research so it comes as somewhat of a surprise when the editors say (August 2008, pg. 13, Harper's Index) research indicates that the "Estimated amount by which per-gallon gas prices would change if the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were drilled" is a minus four cents per gallon.

The green area in the photo is the area proposed for drilling.