settling in

We are going to end November with below average rainfall and no snowfall. We typically don’t get much of the flaky stuff until December, but last year we got 10 centimeters (@4 inches) on November 6th, a really early start to a winter that busted our collective ass. All the weatherfolk agree that our area will have a mild winter, thanks to the Pineapple Express and El Ninyo (I don’t know how to get a tilde over the second “n”; sorry).

Tomorrow starts meteorological winter, which I honour over astronomical winter because it starts my least favourite season three weeks sooner. Jude and I are ready. We have ample firewood and food. Our new energy system is working well except for an aging water wheel that will be replaced soon. And we have a brush on a long pole to clear off our satellite dishes.

So we’re settling in to watch the rest of the world go by. And what a spectacle to behold of late: Elon Musk striving to be the world’s most perfect asshole; George Santos effortlessly reducing the U.S. House to a spate of squabbling children; and, of course, The Donald.

To be sure, Trump’s poll numbers are holding steady, even as he relentlessly makes things worse for himself. Yet I hold out hope for Trump fatigue and to that end I search for signs of that. One really juicy one popped up this week when Kansas billionaire Charles Koch threw his substantial clout and cash Nikki Haley’s way. Haley has said some obnoxious things of late, like vowing she would support Trump even if he was convicted. But she can easily backtrack on those if she surges ahead of him.

She also took some missteps as Governour of South Carolina, but had the metaphorical balls to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol. She’s no Will Hurd or even Chris Christie, but right now she’s our best hope to beat Aging Orange, if for no other reason she doesn’t have a mushroom-shaped pecker.