Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Flower Spikes and Meat Packing

We took the Lexus in for its six month checkup this morning.  The kid that greeted us was wearing a mask and didn't get near us.  Then the service adviser came out with no mask.  When she handed Jim a piece of paper to sign, she got within two feet of him to point at to where to sign.  I blurted out that she was too close and to please step back.  I felt bad about saying that to her, but really!

It's still pretty yellow out there. 


This is growing in a front yard down the street.  The flower spike is just enormous, I've never seen one this big.  The agave it's sprouting from is doesn't seem capable of supporting that much weight.  That's a three foot wall behind them.



This is a close up of it.  The light is really harsh, it's not a great photo.  I will be interested to see what the flowers look like.  You may expect regular updates on this.



 I recently wondered why Tyson had spent the money on full page ads declaring that the food supply chain was broken and to expect shortages.  They got what they wanted when the orange man ordered processing plants to stay open yesterday.  More importantly, the plant owners are now shielded from liability for the lives lost when people on the line contract Covid-19 and die.  One wonders who will staff the plants after all of the current workers are dead.  The order did not detail how plants were to keep workers safe; Sonny Perdue punted it back to OSHA and CDC.

Governor Ducey is giving a press conference.  Stay at home is in effect until May 15.  Then there will be a gradual re-open.  He's not talking about the orange man's three stages, or two weeks of declining cases.  Now they're talking about the disaster that is occurring on the Navajo reservation.  They're hoping to have two hospitals online by this weekend.  This weekend!  The people that live up there don't have running water.  Life on the Navajo reservation is hard.  The saddest thing of all is that the elders are the ones who are dying, and they are the ones who can still speak the language.  This could be the end of a culture.

Today's high is 102, tomorrow should be 104.  The weather heads are all talking about how it's running 10 to 12 degrees above normal.  I really and truly hope this is not the new normal.



10 comments:

  1. I dont envy you with that heat. Trumps m o is to ignore things / advice etc, he has chosen to ignore to the advice on Covid 19, just as he ignored the advice on climate change. I read an article yesterday that suggested he was becoming unhinged, lets hope more people realise this before November.

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  2. They have made everyone come up with a safety plan for employees. But you watch ... Tyson's products are going to go up in price considerably. With their well placed ads, no one will complain about the cost. Their plants are all about sanitation, so this shouldn't be anything new for them.

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  3. I'm afraid it is the new normal. we didn't really have winter to speak of and we're at least a month ahead in the heat department, these little reprieves notwithstanding. re the meat processing plants...I guess they figure when their current crew dies off there are always more poor people to step in and take their place. this country is lost, an empire imploding. we have zero moral ground.

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  4. That agave is amazing. tRump is an idiot of monumental proportions, not just an idiot either but a dangerous idiot.

    It's so sad that in this day and age there are communities without running water and people complaining about not being able to get their hair cut. Apparently running water is not just a third world problem. It's heartbreaking that there is so much wealth and so little sharing of that wealth.

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  5. Is the Navajo language taught in schools on the reservation?

    That agave flower spike is amazing. They always look so outsized compared to the rest of the plant.

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  6. We order everything delivered. On warm and beautiful days, I often work in my shop in the garage with the garage door open. The UPS man walked right in and I stopped him, "don't come in here!" He left the package by the door, I thanked him as he left. I felt terrible for doing that. Everybody is welcome in my life. Why am I forced to do this? Very, very different times these.

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  7. That agave spike boggles the mind...can't wait to see the flower! I guess you are stealing our heat...it has been downright chilly in NC for most of April. Very pleasant at times (a real spring, amazing!) but too cold at others, with multiple nights in the 30s/40s. Even the first week in May looks below normal, so it's just one of those S curve jetstream patterns both sides of the country have gotten stuck in, I suppose.

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  8. Shame on me; I'm on overload. I can no longer process the implication of Navajo Covid cases and Tyson chicken processing Covid. Just get me to November. See if the truth rolls out.
    That agave is something!

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  9. It's no coincidence that most of the meat packing workers are immigrants, especially Mexican. To the MAGA they are expendable.

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  10. I used to hear "But, it's a dry heat." Please 100+ temps are HOT!

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