Homer'sWorld

Thirty years ago, in May 1987, I was working at the worst job I have ever had- taking care of the journal collection at the University of Michigan Business School. After graduation, I had no clue how to find an archaeology job, and of course the professors didn't know either. So I went to work at the library, replacing a woman with a learning disability. What took her eight hours to do took me four hours. And then I had to look busy. All while making $5.19 an hour and being nagged because I did not come to work dressed in professional business attire. What a joke.

I had stopped by the Anthropology Department and saw a job listing and applied for it, knowing full well it was pointless. And one day I came back to work from lunch and there was a message, "call the National Park Service." So I ran home and did and was hired to go work at Fort Union Trading Post, National Historic Site. The next day I turned in my resignation, my immediate boss Melody congratulating me (her husband was an archaeologist) and the head of the library making a nasty face because they were going to have to find someone to replace me. Whatever!


 Not sure where this picture was taken. Everyone wore short shorts back then!
 Over the summer we cleared two of the four sides of the fort, uncovering walls and a bastion. Melanie is standing in front of the reconstructed Bourgeois House, which had been dug up the year before. The rock foundation of a bastion is behind her.

 Pat lived in Williston. He was busy working on a family history book in his apartment. Sometimes we would drive the 45 miles to Williston to get a Dairy Queen blizzard.

I really hate drama. I do not know how the idiots in the White House can stand going to work when it is all drama-mofo drama-more mofo drama, every single mofo day.

It is pretty obvious that we have a Manchurian Candidate situation going on. Donald Trump is a traitor. Back in the old days, back when Republicans were patriotic, any hint of collusion with Russia would get you hauled in front of Congress and forced to explain your actions. Not anymore. Apparently being a traitor is fine and dandy.

Anyways, every day just seems like a train wreck and it just gets tiresome. 

I planted some zinnia seeds back in January or February. Three or four came up. Here is the first one to bloom.

Catching up.

I skipped the annual egg decorating and egg hunt party. For several reasons including my busy schedule and being somewhat grumpy. I did invite Kamron over to decorate cookies and then Dino stopped by and I made him decorate one.





Along the endless trail was some fun rock art, including people holding hands. What you cannot see in the picture is someone named Oscar scratched his name across the image. According to a previous survey, this happened before 1987. Vandals suck.

A vermillion flycatcher perks outside my office window.

Happy 17th Birthday Puff!

He hates having his picture taken, won't look at the camera. Snowball of course is a big ham and is all, "Take my picture!"

28 Days Later, more or less.

Spring has arrived in Tucson. The friendly ground squirrels have come out, many lying splattered on the roads because they are both friendly and very dumb.

Two weeks ago my friend Jose was killed in a car accident. He was 33. I had not seen him in person for a while, but had been recently thinking that we should go have dinner together and catch up.

Jose worked at a dentist's office. He had the biggest, prettiest smile on his tiny, 5 ft 1 inch body. He was fun to be around. Always smiling. Really wish I had called him up and spent time with him, but what can you do?

Lately I haven't been smiling much. It is hard to do so when bad things happen. Puff is getting old and cranky, wakes me up at night. If I lock him out of the bedroom he cries loudly non-stop. As a result, I'm not getting much sleep.

A close friend is moving away, someone I have depended on. Not too far, but far enough that I won't be able to see him in person except maybe once a year. He probably doesn't know how much his friendship has meant to me.

And then there is the political stuff to stress out over.

So yeah, 2017 is likely to be as bad as 2016.

 



Baby Jesus.

I made Craig and Chris pose for a photo.




Dark photo of the three of us.

Spring has started here. The flowers are starting to bloom. We had a mild, rainy winter and there should be a lot of wildflowers this year.



Creosotebush.

A coyote wanders by my window at work often. It looks well fed. I tap on the window and it turns to stare at me before running off.

I missed the Women's March in Tucson a few weeks ago because I had to give a talk that day. Yesterday was a protest outside the Federal Courthouse in response to Trump's ban on immigration from seven Muslim majority countries.

 I dressed up (I always wear a tie to protests!) and made a sign and went down. After a while, co-workers Jenny and Jane showed up, I did not know they were coming.

Well so far Trump has targeted women, Mexicans, immigrants, and Muslims. So I guess next week it will be the turn for LGBT people. He is going to nominate an anti-gay Supreme Court justice who will vote for the next 30 or 40 years against my civil rights.

I loathed George H. W. Bush. I disliked Ronald Reagan. I hate Donald Trump. To put it mildly. I don't like hate, it is a wasted emotion. But I do hate him. And the people who voted for him, I guess I pretty much hate them too. The interactions with them usually end up with them calling me names. For some reason Buttercup and Snowflake are popular. Trump supporters seem to fall into two categories (which often overlap): 1). the white supremacists who fear anyone who isn't white, straight, male, and Christian, and 2), the profoundly stupid who think everything Trump says is the truth. I guess there is a third category, those who genuinely want to see our government toppled. Good luck on that.

I probably already said this, but I gave $50 to the ACLU. I hope they sue the fuck out of the monster who is in charge of the country.

I wonder what it would be like to sleep well. Between lying awake pondering the hell that our nation will be going through and Puff constantly pawing at my face and walking across my head, I haven't had a sound sleep in forever.

Puff is getting just plain old. At 16 3/4 years he is super skinny. When I get home from work he follows me around, wants to sit on my lap. At night he wants to sleep with his head on my arm, reaching out to me with his paws. I tell him to stop patting at my face, but he doesn't understand. If I push his paws away, he cries. If I lock him up outside my bedroom, he sits at the door and cries even louder. Sigh.

It rained in Tucson today. I had to get up early to set up two tents at the Park. I came home and worked on a genealogical problem. Took Mother to India Oven for lunch, she enjoyed the food although the chick peas were too hot. Afterward we went way across town to Bookman's so she could find one of her Brother Cadfael books (I need to find the 21st one for her). Back home I took a nap, then worked on the genealogy problem some more. Poor Luella- six of her seven children died in childhood because she was a lousy religious fanatic who didn't believe in doctors. Then I made cheesy gluten-free biscuits and some vegetarian baked beans for supper. She is busy reading another mystery book.

I did not watch the Inauguration. I have tried to avoid the news. It is just tiresome. People noticed that the first things scrubbed from the Whitehouse website were the pages on climate change and LGBT civil rights. I'm guessing Pence had something to do with that.

Who knows what the next two or four years will bring. Wonder if archaeologists will have jobs. We are expendable- get in the way of developers and energy folks, also education and science stuff is going to be targeted, because lord knows we wouldn't want brainy people in Amerika.

My protest was to give $50 to the ACLU. We are going to need them.

Mother brought me this card that was filled out at the hospital after I was born (via C-section), I don't remember ever seeing it.

8:18 AM, I suppose they wheeled her into the operating room at about 8:00 AM. My mother and father had different blood types (father A+, mother A-) and mother's immune system was busy trying to kill me off, so I was taken out early to get a transfusion of delightful A+ blood.

Mother's plane was two hours late arriving in Tucson at 10 PM. She said she was very tired but still managed to talk to me until midnight. She was very happy with her presents (knitting and quilting magazines, some gluten free candy, colored pencils shaped like twigs, an amarylis).

Today I worked from home, researching some people for a treatment plan. I then took mother to Rosa's for lunch. She enjoyed her green corn tamale and refried beans.