While we had planned to go to Franklin KY today for their May Day protest, Craig has a bad cough and was up most of the night so we did not go. My Social Security phone appointment was supposed to be 2 PM so I set my alarm for 145 so I could be ready. At 1245, I got a call from a 1800 number and I wondered if it might be Social Security because most scam callers have 877 and 888 numbers now so I decided to answer it.
It was Social Security and the representative said she was running ahead of schedule. I had to go upstairs to get my computer to sign in while I was explaining the problem. I managed to mess up my sign in and got “locked out”. She went on to ask me a bunch of questions – not the entire application but key questions. After about 20 minutes she said application was complete and filed and I would be getting a hard copy in the mail to make sure it was correct.
She was able to give me my online access back and I was able to sign in.
After my recent experience, this was pretty easy. If the call had not been early and I had been focused on signing in, it would have been even easier. If we had gone to the protest, I would not have been home so it all worked out nicely.
We were excited when we saw this posted on the Mobilize Us website. After attending the “round table” we are still mystified by the seeming lack of veteran presence there and at the two protests we have attended so far. I learned on a recent podcast that 60% of veterans supported Trump and 40% did not. Why are these individuals who swore an oath to defend the Constitution still on the side-lines? If one actually takes the time to read the section concerning the Veterans Administration in Trump’s “Project 2025”, there is no mystery as to what the ultimate intentions of this president are for the VA: elimination and privatization. His priorities are certainly NOT the welfare of the American veteran–nor, for that matter, do they appear to be the welfare of the majority of the American people.
Clarksville is about an hour NW of us. Craig was stationed at Ft. Campbell right outside of Clarksville in the mid-70’s. There are many veterans in that community so we thought we would find a sizable group gathering for this event. When we arrived there were more organizers than veterans. It was hosted by Tennessee for All with participation of the AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees), IRVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) and a member of the Nashville Metro Council Veterans Caucus. The organizers seemed undaunted by the low participation and everyone went through their talking points. Then we got to the open discussion. There was a very vocal Afghan vet who had done 4 tours and was very connected to the local vet community. He was on disability because of lung damage from burn pits and PTSD. He puts himself out there as an “informal” suicide prevention volunteer – sharing his personal phone number with vets he thinks are at risk. He said that many of the vets like to socialize at the gaming table establishments. I had to ask what that was. Apparently there are places that veterans gather to play all sorts of games (dice and board games) to pass the time. For the organizers, connection with this vet that knowledge of where the vets gather was worth all of the chicken fingers.
An older couple that who were not veterans had driven an hour to attend the event because of their personal concern for the VA and Veterans Services. The woman was looking for ammunition to use with her community that did not share their concern. Specifically, her son’s opinion was “if things are so bad for the vets, why are they not out protesting?”.
The organizers learned that there is a community that wants to protest and there is an avenue of getting to and activating a larger group of veterans. Craig met with the leader of the local chapter of the IAVA who is also affiliated with the local and national American Legion and VFW. He asked Craig if he would be open to writing an OP Ed and perhaps doing some public speaking. Craig said YES to both.
So while we were disappointed about the turnout of vets at this event, we are hopeful that the organizers will keep moving ahead to organize a protest in Clarksville that will draw a sizable and growing group of veterans and a community of concerned people.
Craig and I are going to DC for the June 6th rally Unite for Veterans, Unite for Americans event.
We drive north 20 miles to Franklin KY for excellent massages. Nancy, our massage therapist is a very active member of the community of 9,000 people. She is first rate promoter of their community events. One of our early dates was to see a production of Steel Magnolias – the musical in a small dinner theater. The Arts Council of Franklin KY puts on at least 3 productions per year. Their downtown square is vibrant.
Nancy founded the R.E.A.C.H organization Racial Equality through Action & Community Help several years ago. The first project chosen was to build a multi-use park and walking trail on undeveloped park land – something the entire community could get behind. They are finally through the underground ‘infrastructure” part of the process and will be breaking ground very soon.
One of their main fundraisers has been a lip sync contest. We decided to attend last night for our 22 month anniversary. Nancy told each of us about the event during our last massage and texted us the flyer immediately after. We arrived about 10 minutes before start time and ended up in the second row – the community showed up.
There were 3 judges in a “roped off” area right below the stage. This was a serious production that was well-executed. The youngest contestants were 10 y/o and the oldest were many decades older. The performers “acted” their roles. The Guns’ and Roses group “sang” Sweet Child ‘O Mine. They were in the 12 and under category. Craig assured me he was that tall when he was 12.
The Master of Ceremony was the school superintendent and during the show he announced that the Girls Bass Fishing Team had qualified for the state competition. Who knew?
When I got to Tools yesterday morning, I heard that my wood working mentor Harry had fallen and broken his pelvis and was in a Skilled Nursing Facility. Harry must be 93 now so I was quite concerned. I had brought in a loaf of banana bread for him as he usually comes in for the group lunches. I was worried. I texted him and after a couple of hours I heard back from him that he wanted to see me with the banana bread. When I got there this is how he looked. I was sooooo relieved. The fracture was not a severe one in that it was not displaced so no surgery was required. He was having minimal pain and was almost stable enough with his walker to go back to his apartment. While Harry does not make the drive through rush hour traffic to work in Fine Furniture at Tools very often anymore, his spirit is always over my shoulder adjusting my technique.
Every few months, the Tools crew has a lunch – pizza or sandwiches which is a nice time to socialize rather than just work. Yesterday it provided an opportunity for Craig to deliver the metal washing machine that he built. It was so fun to watch him demonstrate his creation to the group.
There is a project coming up for round tables with metal legs so we will find out how well it actually cleans the metal. He is pretty confident. Washing metal is the least favorite job. The next least favorite is ironing on the “wood grain” banding to make edges of plywood look like wood. One of the guys is hoping Craig will figure out a way to automate that next.
I was not able to weigh in last week because the scale at the condo needed a battery. When I weighted on Saturday, I had lost 3.5 pounds over 2 weeks. My appetite is definitely diminished. I am eating less and being pretty active so this rate of weight loss seems quite slow. Next week I start I double the current dose. I am curious to see what happens.
This is the dead hedge we built 2 weeks ago. It is a V-shape and extends in both directions beyond the picture. In the bottom right corner of the picture, there is a bit of red clay dirt that can be seen with a stick at the bottom edge. This is the bottom of the ravine that carries a significant amount of water from the pasture onto our property. As temporizing measures to slow the flow of water down we have filled the ravine with stones and pieces of telephone poles and sticks and stones. However the water just routes itself around the “stuff” meant to slow the flow of water and run across the property. Yesterday was our day to clean out the ravine, straighten it, shore up the downside edge with BIG stones to prevent rerouting. We want the water to stay in the ravine and dump into the wide area upslope from the dead hedge. We had a half an inch of rain early Monday morning and there was no standing water upslope from the dead hedge so that suggests we have not created a dam.
This is what we started with. Left is closest to the dead hedge, Middle photo is mid slope and right one is the entire length from the fence line with the pasture to the dead hedge at the bottom. It didn’t take as long to get the ravine emptied as I thought it would and Craig and Katie the Kioti made digging and straightening the ravine go pretty quickly.
The left photo is where we were at lunch break and the other two are at quitting time at sunset. A lot of work was done to move stones to create the down slope edge of the ravine, The ravine is shallow now but with the coming rain it will naturally deepen and as we see how the water flows we can decide how we need to further reinforce and define the ravine to keep water in the ravine running straight to the dead hedge without expansion of the ravine on the top or bottom side.
We are expecting .5 inches of rain on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 1.5 inches will give us some idea of how we are doing. We have continued to move fallen logs to fence lines and along grass edges in attempt to mitigate flow of water across the driveway. Everything we have done over the past year has helped BUT we have plenty of other mitigating retaining walls to build in the yard itself before we are done.
While I was in Nashville Thursday Craig was repairing the driveway by moving gravel from the bottom of the hill and spreading it across the parts that were washed out. The driveway was ready for compacting. Friday, he had to make an unexpected trip to Nashville VA because one of his hearing aids broke. I received instruction on staring the compactor before he left. I even took a picture of the red button that needs top be turned UP to help remind me. I proceeded to soak the gravel with water which took about 30 minutes and took a bio break to “fill and empty.”, I went to start the compacter, I pulled on the string dozen times and then called Craig. Of course, he immediately asked if I had turned the switch to ON, which I had forgotten. This is amusing and horrifying at the same time – especially since I had taken a photo of a crucial step I had been concerned I was likely to forget.
The good news is that I correctly recognized that I was likely to forget about the starter switch and took a photo. Now I just have to train myself to check my photos before I call for help.
With the switch turned to ON, it started right up.
We were up early and drove the 30 minutes north to Franklin KY where we get massages. We each got an hour massage and then headed to Nashville. We drove to James and Natalie’s so Natalie could drop us off at West End Avenue. The event was scheduled for 12-2 PM and was adjacent to the Earth Day celebration in Centennial Park. Protest lasted 2 hours. There were volunteers making sure that protesters did not block the ability to walk on the sidewalk or block driveway access to any businesses. Protesters extended about 5 blocks on each side. We walked up and down the sidewalk on both sides rather than just standing. From overheard conversations it seemed that many had NOT protested on April 5th and were very encouraged and surprised by the turn-out. There were more veterans this time. Protesters certainly skew to older persons but I think there may have been more late teens and twenty somethings this time. Craig’s sign is a crowd favorite and he probably had at least a hundred people ask if they could take his photo. He created a harness to support his sign and I found my leather tool belt worked great to support mine.
One of the biggest challenges to building momentum in a “red state” is that there are no congress or senator member office to help facilitate organization and communication. Staying abreast of protest opportunities takes A LOT of time. The Mobilize website which I joined prior to the election is a good aggregator of activities across the country. However work of mouth is hugely important. We found out about Friday protests outside Marsha Blackburn office in Nashville and Thursday protests at Nashville Social Security office.
The next big protest will be a May Day Protest. In Nashville from 9 AM- 10 PM at the Capital where there is lots of room. It should allow those that cannot take the day off will have an opportunity to join and have their voices heard. As luck would have it, May 1st is the day of my Social Security telephone meeting at 215 PM so I will need to carry my compute with me so I can take a break for the call.
We were exhausted when we got home. Participating in democracy takes energy.
Last Wednesday we started helping James and Natalie renovate their deck. We knew it had solid support underneath but the floor, railing and stairs needed work. Initial thought was that it might just need to all be replaced but after a good power washing it was clear that much of the wood of the deck was good. Craig thought the railing could be repaired and not replaced. One of the stringers supporting the stairs needed to be replaced and we felt it best to just replace the steps rather than spend the time sanding them. After 3 days of work between rain showers the steps were replaced, all of the floor boards that needed to be replaced were done and the railing was intact.
Saturday Craig and I drove to Spartanburg (5.5 hour drive) to see a new musical written by a friend for the Sunday matinee. It was a beautiful drive and on Saturday midafternoon there was no slow down on I-40 where the road is being rebuilt that washed away with last Falls hurricane, For about 5 miles, it is a 2 lane interstate at 35mph. Trip was short and sweet but it was good to see friends.
Monday Craig and James worked on the finishing touches to the railing while I nursed a neck spasm. I was able to get a chiropractic adjustment that morning and was just not quite fully “with it” the rest of the day. I went to get a mammogram in the late afternoon and stopped at Home Depot (across the street from the Breast Center). When I came out of Home Depot, I couldn’t get the car door to unlock and convinced myself I lost the fob in Home Depot. So I retraced by steps but it was no where to be found so I walked across the street to get my mammogram. Craig had his phone on silence so he did not get my call or text about the lost fob. After the mammogram, I called Natalie so she could let Craig know if my dilemma and while I was talking to her I did another look in my bag for the fob and “there it was”. I blame my muddled thinking on the muscle relaxant I had taken that morning. There is only one fob for Craig’s car so crisis was averted.
Tuesday I went to Tools, worked out with my trainer and got ready for the Robertson County Democratic Committee Reorganization Meeting which happens every 2 years. I put my name forward to be Committee Representative for District 3 of Robertson County and was “elected”. 49 people showed up for the meeting which was a much larger number than they have had in a very long time. There are 24 representatives from the Districts and the goal is to have one male and one female from each of the districts.
I like working on things that seem impossible and working to get Democrats elected in a county that went 80% for Trump is a suitable challenge. It is very engaged group of people with good age diversity and I look forward to trying to “do something” besides carry protest signs.
Now we are back to drainage and driveway management at the Garden before we move on to building the retainer wall for deck expansion and hot tub installation.
Tamara Unleashed 