Ghost Tree

We were back at the sonoma Valley Regional Park again this morning for a walk. We decided to do our usual walk in reverse, going up the steep rocky trail and coming back down the gentler, more gradual trail back. I found it easier than going down the steep rocky bit but John found it more difficult...his excuse for blasting ahead , leaving me behind to fend for myself. I was somewhat quite ticked off at him, even though I didn't really need his help, but decided I didn't want to have that argument again.

When we were leaving, the turkeys were on our lawn (extra) en masse, leaving one up in a tree to stand sentry as they made their way across the lawn and down into the drainage swale. They were on their way back across the lawn in the other direction when I came back a couple of hours later from a trip to the shopping center to my favorite store, Amour Vert in search of a gift. 

I have decided that my new bête noir , as if my brain weren't already overcrowded with them, Is insurance companies. An article in our Sunday paper recounted how the Redwood Forest Friends Meeting, the local Quaker Meeting House has been opening their parking lot to about ten vetted unhoused people and their vehicles as a safe alternative to sleeping on the streets. One man has been working to pay off his debts so that he can afford to have a more permanent shelter. In return for a safe place to sleep in his car, he keeps an eye on the place and the other nine or ten occupants of other parking places, including an 80 year old woman who lost her livelihood during Covid. Vandalism and break-ins have been greatly reduced and a few people have a safe, lighted place with a bathroom to stay at night. The Quaker's insurance provider has decided to drop their coverage, citing 'liability exposures outside product appetite'. Could they have found a more insulting way of phrasing it?
I really don't think so many of us, for a growing variety of reasons should be dictated to by insurance companies. We pay almost $10,000/year for basic homeowner's insurance, almost four times what people living nearby pay.  We don't like it, but decided that we don't really have any choice. We do live in a fire zone. But the Quakers were doing what they could to solve an intractable problem and had actually created a sensible, modest program which benefitted everybody. The insurance move is downright biased, but they wouldn't budge despite efforts of the Quakers to appeal their decision and work with them to fina a solution.. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody steps to help these people...it remains to be seen.

For anybody interested in a little slice of sanity in a mad world, I highly recommend subscribing to Heather Cox Richardson's  email letters. She is a historian who writes about the American political scene with great clarity and insight. Today she predicted that there would be a 'major, major' political news story sometime in the five weeks before the election though she honestly doesn't know what it will be. She also said that she thinks DT has lost the plot and is becoming more and more incoherent, something I agree with. She went into his history as a politician and what he said early on that attracted the conservative right.. She doesn't just state theories, she backs them up with facts from the historical record. She  has more than a million and a half followers. Jon Stewart got us through the Bush years. Heather Cox Richardson is getting us through the current scene. 

We 're now off to Jim and Dana's for Sunday supper .