Calculations at 85. My mother lived to 92. Maybe the 2020 Downward Spiral can be Checked.

 She would have wanted me to outlive her. 

I have outlived the Costner-Bell and Parker-Rogers grandparents. I have outlived all the Costner-Stewart and Parker-Hill and Rogers-Glenn and Bell-Henderson great grandparents except Martha Izora Henderson Bell, but if I outlive my mother I will pass her grandmother Bell on the way.  

Not feeling very competitive right now but a little hopeful.

I have outlived a lot of family members. And younger friends such as Brian and Henry and Noel I think of every day and others I think of often.

A Cousin in Oklahoma describes how hard it is to get treated for Covid 19.

  "Had a hard time finding a hospital that could take him. . . .  All the hospitals seem to be full and have no beds for Covid patients.  He tried Weatherford, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa before he finally got admitted.  He happened to know a Doctor in Tulsa that he had used as a Cardiologist. . . ."

One of our Glenn cousins has died of Covid.

Shame on Kim Davis and Emily Murphy for what they have done to justify fat-shaming

 Psychologists are renewing study of how people who have no control of their own bodies tend to exert cruel control over others. That makes sense.

2020 One disaster after another. Now Vertigo.

2 days ago, bookshelves falling forward against me, skylight falling on me; yesterday, projectile vomiting and at the ER big clocks spinning spinning, would not stop spinning. Diagnosis, Vertigo. Today, feeling good, fell hard in small bathroom with no previous warning signs.

We were about to leave to see the great doctor who in April said, "I have only good news for you. You do not have lymphoma. You have Valley Fever." So we lost him as the man in charge and we were handed off to the infectious disease doctor. Now, after the Blood Clot, we get back to the great doctor because he is both oncologist and hematologist. He does not like seemingly unrelated horrors following last horrors. He will find out what is wrong. 

Tomorrow, simple exercises to see if the Vertigo will respond and go away. Then strict treatment and blood work every 2 weeks to see if there is progress on the clot.

How much do we admire him? I wrote a comment on his site. When I described how I was working one-eyed to draft my book on family and race months ago he said he wanted a copy. I have done exciting and disturbing things on it since then, but today I brought him my last copy of MELVILLE BIOGRAPHY: AN INSIDE NARRATIVE because no more can be purchased and the reprints will not have the dust jacket.

Walked a few steps outside despite blood clot. In Nov. 2019 I walked 2 miles on the beach on 27 of 30 days.

 What a loss of stamina. 

Here is the North side--showing the narrow space before next house.

On the other cheek, no visible brain drip but 3 or 4 flies--this is what happens to liars like Rudy

 

Uncle Mode's great grandson Kevin keeps making good movies. Good news right now!

 

Following the loss of their son, retired sheriff George Blackledge (Costner) and his wife Margaret (Lane) leave their Montana ranch to rescue their young grandson from the clutches of a dangerous family living off the grid in the Dakotas, headed by matriarch Blanche Weboy. When they discover the Weboys have no intention of letting the child go, George and Margaret are left with no choice but to fight for their family.

#LetHimGo

What Todd Snider thought when he saw the headline about Billy Joe Shaver

 How many people had this reaction but have not expressed it so well?

Todd Snider"

When I found out that Jerry Jeff passed, I was in shock. I knew that he was sick… but, a lot of times when someone’s sick they tell you that they’re fine. So, I had been talking to him a lot. Then, I woke up and saw that he had passed. I didn’t have any heads-up, really. I just went into shock.

Then, a few days later I woke up and saw the headline “Billy Joe Shaver Died” and my first thought was “It’s Jerry Jeff Walker you fucking jerks.” I was so mad that they had gotten Jerry Jeff’s name mixed up with Billy Joe. Then, I went “Oh…” At first, I didn’t want to read closer. Then I read closer. 

 

Georgia's secretary of state says Lindsey Graham suggested he find a way to toss legal ballots

  Scott Galloway: ‘We need to protect people, not companies’ Stephanie Ruhle

 Toss out legal ballots??

WHO WOULD BELIEVE LINDSEY GRAHAM COULD DO SUCH A THING? WHO WHO WHO? 

Oh, well, me too.

The Berkshire Athenaeum is Outdoing Itself in Preparing for the "Hershel Parker Collection"

 --Melville collection, of course. LOOK HOW CLEAN AND LIGHT IT IS.

We have been unable to send a dozen boxes already unpacked. #88 is on the plinth awaiting taping and mailing. The Athenaeum has 70 or so boxes to start with, when they are ready. One of these weeks we will be able to tape and mail more boxes.

FAIR IS FAIR---LET THE REPUBLICAN COURTS DECIDE!!!

 

Absolutely NOT one of our Daugherty cousins

 

John Daughtery 1814 not one of our Daugherty men, surely.

 CAPTAIN CAMPBELL'S COMPANY

   JOHN DAUGHTERY, born in Northampton County, N. C., aged 20 years, five feet nine and a half inches high, ruddy complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, and by occupation a silversmith, latterly accustomed to the sea. He is remarkable for his extreme silence and downcast appearance, addicted to intoxication, and when drunk is both sullen and stupid - deserted from Rowan County, N. C., 20th Nov. 1814

from Deserters part of roster War of 1812 NC

 

EXTREME SILENCE AND DOWNCAST APPEARANCE, ADDICTED TO INTOXICATION, AND WHEN DRUNK BOTH SULLEN AND STUPID?

 

None of our Dougherty men, for sure!

SLO County Statistics: Hospitalized 22 people 85 Yrs and Up,--with 19 deaths. 19 out of 22 died if they were hospitalized!

 And Not Hospitalized 85 years and more, 67 cases and only 19 deaths so far.

85 this month. The caregiver is keeping me isolated. Now I understand why.

What with the lungs newly affected by Valley Fever (one biopsy on a spot, checking that it was not cancer) I'm what a doctor called a Sitting Duck for Covid.

19 so far out of 67 doesn't sound too bad an odds . . . .

Part of the Cleaning Crew

 

Disentangled, what this says is that Perdue and Loeffler are furious that Raffensperger did not suppress enough black votes

 

  ATLANTA — A rift among Georgia Republicans exploded into public view on Monday as the state’s incumbent senators, both locked in fierce runoff fights for their seats, lashed out at the Republican officials who oversaw last week’s election and leveled unfounded claims of a faulty process lacking in transparency.

The all-out intraparty war erupted as the vote count in Georgia on Monday continued to show President Trump narrowly trailing President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia took the extraordinary step of issuing a joint statement calling for the resignation of the Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and condemning the election as an “embarrassment.”

“We believe when there are failures, they need to be called out — even when it’s in your own party,” the senators said in their statement, which did not offer any specific allegations or elaborate on how they believed Mr. Raffensperger had fallen short, except to accuse him of “mismanagement and lack of transparency.”

 

 

2 Books by Reavis Z. Wortham that arrived today. #3 and #4

 

Senate Candidates Charge that Their Republican Secretary of State did not enforce enough obstacles to Democratic voters

The discrepancy between what Loeffler and Perdue say and what they really are furious about!

ATLANTA — A rift among Georgia Republicans exploded into public view on Monday as the state’s incumbent senators, both locked in fierce runoff fights for their seats, lashed out at the Republican officials who oversaw last week’s election and leveled unfounded claims of a faulty process lacking in transparency.

The all-out intraparty war erupted as the vote count in Georgia on Monday continued to show President Trump narrowly trailing President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia took the extraordinary step of issuing a joint statement calling for the resignation of the Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and condemning the election as an “embarrassment.”

No handwritten thank you from Jon Ossoff yet but a LOT of requests for more money. All right. And it's good to see you are fighting for the Senate.

 Bombard me with requests. I don't have that many correspondents now. Thank you! We can take both Georgia seats.

Sending Money Out of State--to Jim Webb in VA, to Beto O'Rourke in TX, and now to Jon Ossoff in GA

 My donation to Jim Webb must have turned things around the last week for he won in Virginia. My donation to Beto terrified Ted Cruz when he heard about it but he won anyhow. Today I sent Jon Ossoff what I sent to Virginia and Texas combined and will probably send more, and I will dip into savings for the same amount to Raphael Warnoch. Sometimes the most important races are not in California.

Fierce NW Wind--Livestock sheltering by the House and the Wall

 

I don't understand. What possible reason could Trump have for wanting to stop the vote?

 President Trump on Thursday tweeted “STOP THE COUNT” as officials in key battleground states continued to tally legally cast ballots and Biden moved within 17 electoral votes of being able to claim victory. Arizona, Alaska, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada remain uncalled.

First days of May--the day I worked with a cheap mask, awaiting the softer ones---delayed and never needed

 

The lesion finally closed up the first of September. With even reduced dosage of Fluconazole it should never return. And one of the Stanford oncologists said they might have to remove the right eye.

Where I lay down my pallet for naps. Sharing is not good. This fellow, 3 inches across. What does it bode?