Misc.

Thursday was L and my 16th wedding anniversary :) Like any day, it had its ups and downs, but I think more up than down, lol

Special stuff that day? Well, L had the first part of his health assessment at The Body Tailor, then we went to the kung fu school so we could refresh on what we'd learned of a two-person weapon set last April (Spear/Staff side), and L learned the Sword side of the set. We'll work on getting that set first, and then I'll start learning the sword side as well. Then a trip to the hot tubs; always welcome after kung fu!

Traditional 16th anniversary gift is tourmaline and modern U.S. is silver holloware (silver service pieces that go with your china). I think the class and hot tub were better :)

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Yesterday, went up on the hill with a friend and learned a bit about tracking and even a little about hunting (good places to set up and where deer and turkeys like to hang out), as well as generally chatting about miscellaneous interesting things. Ostensibly I'm also up there looking for antlers, but that's a challenging proposition, so if I get some, great, but if not, oh well. We were up there for a few hours, so it was a pretty good hike. My plan is to go up on the hill at least once a week, get more familiar with the area, learn more about the critters there, and maybe, if I'm lucky, find some antlers. There are a lot of deer up there, but antlers are a hot commodity with wildlife, so I've got some pretty fierce competition ;)

Things in the News

Bad news everywhere these days.... birds and fish and crabs dying in large numbers all over the world, crude oil still messing up LA's marshes, and plenty of other things besides. Then there's the latest, that shooting of several people including a congresswoman (still alive and responsive), but also a number of deaths including, sadly, a 9yo child -- the shooting happened outside a grocery store, so folks from all walks of life were there. No doubt some folks are calling for banning guns or something. Do I think they should be banned? No, I don't, although I don't own any guns myself. Would it really stop crazy people from doing crazy things? Should knives be banned too? How about fertilizer or household cleaners?

Times are tough all over, political parties are polarized, and unfortunately the way a lot of folks deal with these stresses is bad for other folks.

Tolerance and moderation are in short supply. Those of us who can still be so, need to do our best, but be aware that the veneer of civilization is increasingly thin for some of the people we meet as we go about our lives.